New Magic
by Wolf of the Light
Summary: Lily was a girl as ordinary as any other. She went to school with her friend, came home, and helped around the house. That was all until the Mew Mews' fighting hit home.
1. Prologue

**A/N**: Okay, yes, I know. I have many unfinished stories to update on here. But until I can figure out why my computer hates Microsoft Office, I'll have to suffer with the notepad and attempting to bribe my hard drive. Anyway, here's a little something I started a couple days ago.

It is short, yes. It's because it's the prologue to the actual story. I'm sorry if it's a little boring or uninteresting, but more information is given in the actual chapters. Tell me what you think afterwards.

* * *

You never think about how cold it'll be outside in December until you first open your front door. A freezing breeze might blow through, or a snowball just might fly in and smash you in the face. This is what happened to me as I'd been heading outside on my way to school. It wasn't unsual for this to happen, but usually I would manage to dodge them, or at least see them coming before they landed, namely on my face.

"Waah!" I scrubbed at my face to try and rub away the ice-turned-slush. When I'd managed to remove enough so I could see again, I looked through my fingers out into the yard. Snow still clung to my eyelashes when I blinked, so when I saw them, I wasn't exactly sure who it was at first, but then their features became clearer: the dark green hair, the amber eyes, that cheeky grin. "Kish! I can't believe you'd do that this early in the morning!"

He just laughed at me, his hands - with which he had undoubtedly threw that darned snowball - stuffed in his pants' pockets. Over his shoulder he carried his school bag, which he hitched even higher so when he leaned over it didn't fall. "Aw, come on Lily, it's just snow."

_Snow is the stuff that stays on the ground and trees. What you have in your hand is no longer just snow_, I thought as I glared at him, watching through my narrowed eyes as he packed more snow in his hand. "Isn't that cold?"

"I'm wearing gloves, didn't you see?" He waved one hand that was, yes, indeed wearing a glove, in my general direction.

I didn't even have time to roll my eyes before he threw the new snowball in my direction. This time I was ready, dropping down into a crouch and letting it sail over my head into the front door with a wet _splat!_ Before he could make another one, I scooped up a handful of snow myself, ignoring the sting that went through my hand from the cold. I dashed toward him, my own school bag in hand, throwing the slush at him. While he held an arm up to protect himself, I dashed around him toward the street, a sure way to escape. But then he grabbed the hood of my jacket.

I went sprawling down, my legs going up as the rest of me went down. The snow cushioned my fall, my head didn't even touch ground. Instead I was halfway suspended in the air, my feet buried in the snow as my torso hung in the air. Apparently, somewhere between falling and attempting to catch myself, Kish had kept hold of my hood and grabbed an arm to steady me. He probably hadn't even expected that I fall.

"Whoa, sorry. Are you okay?" he asked as he helped right me.

I pushed back my hood, shaking my hair out so that it fell loosely around my shoulders again. "Yeah, I should be fine. Weird way to grab and catch me though."

"Sorry about that, I hadn't expected you to fall like -"

Before he finished I smushed the handful of snow that I'd secretly scooped from the ground right into his face. He didn't do anything but stand there dumbfounded as I grinned cheekily. "Payback," I said, spinning around to run off again. This time he didn't bother to make a grab for me, he was still so surprised. When I turned back and called to him that we were going to be late, he seemed to snap out of it for a minute, long enough to grab his bag where it'd fallen and run to catch up with me.

* * *

**A/N**: I know what you're thinking ... _"Kish is an alien, why is he going to school?"_ In this story, he has a special place beside Lily (I don't think it will be as romantic as I thought when I started writing, but I'm not entirely sure yet).

When I start adding chapters, I'll add more detail and whatnot in the author's notes and stuff. It'll make sense, I promise xD


	2. Those Days

**A/N**: All right, finally, here it is! Chapter one of my new fic New Magic. The story is in Lily's point of view as she tells how everything began from a day after school until the last battle between the aliens and the Mew Mews.

In this fic, Kish has infiltrated the human lifestyle, posing as a human himself to get information. He's integrated himself into the life of one special human, our main narrator Lily Hanazawa herself. From her point of view we see how the story spells out for the two.

I hope that was a better summary of what's going on xD Now, on with it!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of this fanfic except any OCs and the plot line itself.**

* * *

"I never want to see another math problem ever again."

Giving a laugh as he stretched his arms above him, Kish looked over at me in amusement. He watched me as I kicked at the pieces of gravel along the sidewalk, my heels skimming the ground. I walked in frustration, my annoyance showing clearly on my face as my brow furrowed and I bit the inside of my cheek.

"Lighten up." I looked up when he took my school bag from my hand. It kept me from swinging and hitting something, namely him. "You only have a couple more years left till graduation."

I glared at him. A couple of years? Try all of high school and the rest of middle school. "Kish, I'm a ninth grader. That means the rest of this school year and all of high school." I threaded my empty fingers together, raising them above my head. I peered through my digits at the sun that shone through my skin, staring at its translucency. "That's not a couple of years, my dear friend. It's eternity to a fourteen year old like me."

"You mean an impatient, cruel, violent one like yourself?" He showed that grin again, irritating me further.

"No, you buffoon." I let a small smile sneak across my face for a moment before forcing a scowl. "I am none of those, thank you. Maybe you were describing yourself by chance?" I raised an eyebrow in question.

He threw his arm around my shoulders, his bag over his own and mine in his hand, pulling me toward him as we walked. "My dear, you apparently don't know me."

For a moment we were silent, staring at each other out of the corners of our eyes. Then we burst into hysterical laughter, having to hold on to each other just to stay standing.

When we went our separate ways he handed me my bag, waved goodbye, and backed away from me with a slight smile. He held it until he was at the end of my drive, then spun on his heel and headed in the direction of his house. As I watched him walk away I thought about how odd it was that for as long as we had been friends, I'd never once seen where Kish lived.

This thought clouded my mind as I helped my mom with dinner that night. It bothered me so much that I burned my hand more than once on the stove. My mom started to worry over me but I brushed her off. It only started to strike a nerve when she tried to put me to my room in hopes of me getting some rest. After a while I just conceded, almost crawling up the stairs to my room.

As I lay in bed I tried to let my thoughts wander to other topics, but my mind was stuck on Kish for the time being. I was curled under my covers, trying to let the darkness beneath them soothe me to sleep, but it just wasnt working. My conscious was too wired at the moment, I needed to let off some steam or something. Maybe some fresh air would help.

I pushed back my comforter and crawled to the top end of my bed, kneeling on top of my pillow as I unlocked my window. The glass felt cool against my fingertips as I pushed it open, letting a cool breeze float through the screen. Popping it out of place, I laid the screen on the floor and leaned through the window sill. I looked down from where my window overlooked the street, watching as fog swirled across our short yard.

I rested my elbows on the sill as I leaned further through the window, trying to see if I could spot any of our flower beds below. I was craning my neck trying to see when a sudden jolt pushed me forward. I gave a yelp and scrabbled for the window's frame, managing to barely grab it before I tumbled two stories down head first. At first I thought I was in the clear, even beginning to scoot my way back inside, but then there was a sudden tug on my arm. I actually went out the window, almost like flying.

I hadn't known what it felt like to fall from a second story window. It wasn't what I expected - a dramatic flash of memories, blacking out before hitting the frozen ground; things like that. But there wasn't any of that, just the feeling of the ground coming to meet me as I reached the bottom.

Then the strangest thing happened. One moment I was prepared to hit frozen dirt, become a body of broken bones, the next there was nothing. Just - nothing at all. It was like I was floating.

Wait a minute.

Unclenching my hands, I uncovered my eyes with shaking fingers. I reared back immediately when I saw the ground less than a few feet from my nose. When I tried to set my feet down, I found that I could only kick my legs and wiggle just slightly. Looking around, everything else looked normal. My brow furrowed as I felt a pressure around my middle that I hadn't noticed before. Grappling toward my stomach, I felt around until I found what I hadn't expected: an arm that held me aloft.

I didn't know what to think. But one thing I did think to try was rolling around until I could see who was holding me. So I twisted my body back and forth until I could see even a bit -

_What?_

* * *

I woke up the next morning in my bed, my head fuzzy and my hair even fuzzier. I didn't understand what had happened, I couldn't even really get the feel of my surroundings, I was so disoriented. Things just seemed so ... Fuzzy.

Groaning as I rolled out of my sheets, I sat with my head in my hands for a moment to get my bearings. I sifted through my memories of last night - they were vague at best - to try to get a feel of anything from them. What the heck happened anyway?

My musings were interrupted by something pawing at my leg. Looking down I saw it was my cat Star. I know, odd thing to name a cat, but he's got this cute little star-shaped white spot on his ink black body. It's right above his left shoulder under all his chest fur, it's like a patch or something.

He continued to paw at my leg until I paid him attention, so I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and lifted him on to my bed. He wasn't that big a cat so he wasn't that heavy, and he actually seemed to like it. Weird cat.

Once he had my attention for the moment he began to weave around me, butting his head against my back now and then. I ran my hand across his back, smiling slightly when he began to purr. He loved when I did this so I scratched him behind the ears for good measure.

But then his eyes opened and flickered toward my window. His pupil contracted, his eyes slightly widened. Slowly he padded across my bed toward the window, and I watched as the fur across his shoulders and spine rose in obvious agitation. But at what?

"Star? What's the matter, kitty?" I crawled slowly after him, making sure to stay out of clawing range.

I followed his movements with my eyes as he just about pressed his nose to the window pane. His tail lashed back and forth, and his ears were laid flat against his head. He obviously saw something outside. I wiped condensation from the glass and peered outside.

For a moment I had to just stare, then my eyes roved the entire pane. Sometime during the night, someone had somehow left a message on the glass of my window. Now, this wasn't exactly the first time I'd seen this, but one thing usually stopped attempts like these: my room is on the second floor.

I was so befuddled that I couldn't even read what the message was. It had a fresh layer of condensation over the letters, like words written on a steamed mirrored. I scooted back a little to attempt to read it:

"_Lily, hope you slept . . . well_? Um, _Stay away from open windows_? _Signed, a friend._"

What the heck did _stay away from open windows_ mean? From a friend? It didn't make any sense, at least to me. Idly, I reached forward and traced the letters of each word - I kept going back to spell out S-L-E-P-T-W-E-L-L for some reason - over and over again until it was like I had permanently written them to the pane with my pointer finger.

Sitting back finally, I looked at my window, now covered in what looked like messy squiggles over the words outside. Groaning I fell back against my bed, reaching out for Star. He rubbed his head against my palm and padded across my stomach. Laying beside my head he licked my cheek, his sandpaper-y tongue feeling funny against my skin. I giggled as I rolled over, nuzzling my nose to his. _I don't want to go to school anymore_, I thought lazily as I began to drift again, happily running my hand over my cat's soft fur.

My eyes snapped open and I scrambled over toward my alarm clock, startling Star and sending him under my bed. Seeing the numbers, I screamed, "I'm going to be late!" as I scurried toward the hallway bathroom. I'd spent too much time in bed and snuggling with my cat that I'd neglected to watch the time. I could almost hear the second hand ticking as I sped through a shower and brushing my teeth.

I hurried out my room with my uniform halfway on, still trying to button my shirt up as I pulled on my shoes. I didn't worry about my hair as I ran through the door, my bag in one hand and my house keys in the other. "Bye Mom!" I called as I just about slammed the door and locked it, squealing as I lost more time with the deadbolt.

I didn't see Kish anywhere as I bolted down the street toward campus, but I didn't have very much time to worry since as I got closer I could see someone starting to close the gate. _Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no!_ I could feel adrenaline rushing through me as I picked up speed as much as I could. But it was too late by the time I reached them.

The gates slammed shut right in front of my face. "Excuse me!" I called to the teacher that was walking away. When they turned around I saw it was Ms. Rui, the gym teacher, her whistle hanging from around her neck and a clipboard in her hand. _Oh nooo_, I groaned inwardly, banging my head against the bars. The gym teacher hated me since I always skipped class, and you could see it on her face as she walked back toward me, obviously writing my name on her board.

"Lily Hanazawa," she said when she got within ear shot. "Late again it seems. Isn't this the third time this week?" She finished writing and looked up at me with her cold gray eyes. "It's only Thursday."

I had a bad habit for being late. I'd been trying to quit so I wouldn't have anymore detention, but I'd obviously blown that.

She unlocked the gate and let me in. I trudged up the walk toward the school, my arm holding my bag close as Ms. Rui kept an eye on me as she relocked the gate. Today was just not my day.

* * *

And I was absolutely right as I slumped over my desk when the last bell rang. I had so much homework in my bag and my head hurt from teachers trying to pound information into my brain. I sighed as I watched my classmates gather their things and head out the door. Behind me I could hear a couple of girls chatting as they took their sweet time leaving. Looking over my shoulder I could see that it was a redheaded girl and two of her friends. They were talking about something involving a boy named Masaya, but I tuned away from it. I wasn't an eavesdropper.

I'd seen these girls around school before, but I'd never really made an effort to make friends with them, or anyone else really. I tended to keep to myself, especially with my slightly odd appearance. It never goes unnoticed when someone has blonde hair and dark blue eyes, especially when your mother is of European descent and your father is from Japan.

When I finally felt that I didn't want to hear anybody else until tomorrow, I closed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. I'd expected to get out of there then, but apparently my bag had other ideas. I didn't feel it connect with the girl's head, but I heard her squeal of pain and surprise as my school bag connect with the crown of her head. When her yelp reached my ears, I immediately spun around and looked between the three of them.

I'd apparently hit the head of the blonde girl behind me, as her redhead friend and brunette friend were crowding around her as she cradled the top of her head. I began to freak out as the brunette looked up at me and glared daggers. "What's your problem?" she demanded, her hands at the blonde's elbows as she wiped away tears from the corners of her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't realize how close we were standing near each other. If I'd known she was standing there I wouldn't have -"

"Didn't know? How could you not know how close a person was standing to you in a room as crowded as this?" She looked like she wanted to go on, but the redhead laid a hand on her arm. The brunette looked at her friend, about to say something else, but the redhead just shook her head. Then she looked at me.

"Sorry about that. I saw when you stood up, I know it was an accident." She smiled at me, tightening her hold on the brunette's arm when she began to protest. "Don't worry about it, I know you wouldn't do it on purpose. Who would?"

My lower lip trembled as I felt myself begin to shake. I bit down on it to keep from showing that even the brunette's small shoutings had frightened me. "Y-yeah. I really didn't mean to do it on purpose, I thought she was standing a little further away." I directed my attention to the blonde as she began to stand with the help of the brunette. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to hit you on the head. Are you all right?"

There was a grimace on her face, but she nodded at me anyway. "Yes, I should be fine. I believe Ichigo though, I don't think you did it on purpose. No worries." She gave me a small smile to show she was being sincere.

Relief poured through me when she smiled. "Okay." I took a deep breath and smiled myself. "Okay. I am sorry. I'd never do that on purpose." My hand reached up to grasp the bow of my uniform. "I don't think we've actually met before. I'm Lily Hanazawa." I gave a bow in greeting.

The redhead said, "I'm Ichigo Momomiya, and these are my friends Moe Yanagida -" She gestured to the blonde "- and Miwa Honjo -" then to the brunette. All three bowed in return, Miwa somewhat reluctantly. Apparently she hadn't forgiven me for smacking her friend in the head.

"I like your eyes," Moe said. I looked at her in surprise. People didn't usually comment on them like that. Usually they'd say "Wow, look at your eyes!" or "Your eyes are different." Maybe since I'd hit her on the head it made a sort of kinship between us or something. Or maybe I was just over thinking all this.

I blushed at her compliment. "Th-thank you. I like your hair cut, my hair is too thin for a bob like yours."

Moe laughed and pushed a blonde lock behind her ear. "Why thank you. People always think it's a dye job because it's blonde. Yours looks a pretty natural color, though."

My face burned even brighter. "Yeah, my mother's family is from Europe. My dad's all Japanese."

"Your mom's from Europe?" All three of them seemed to scream this at me as we all headed out the door together. I didn't usually tell people this, usually because of their reactions. It wasn't actually all that odd to see a hybrid like me roaming the streets of Tokyo anymore. I think I'd met more foreigners than actual people I'd grown up around in my time across the oceans.

"Y-yeah," I stammered, shielding my eyes when we walked into the sunlight. "Sometimes I go with her to visit my grandparents over in France - "

Ichigo appeared in my line of vision, startling me. "So your mom is part French?" My eyes shifted back and forth between the three of them as they looked at me expectantly.

"Uh-huh. I'm half Japanese, one-fourth French, and one-fourth Irish. It gets kind of crazy around Christmas time." I grimaced as we neared the school gates. Usually, Kish would wait for me at the gates, but I hadn't heard from him all day. He had classes at the high school down the street and would come and wait against the gates. But I didn't see him anywhere. I didn't like this. "I'm sorry, but I need to go find someone." Before they could say anything I ran out to the sidewalk, calling out behind me, "It was nice meeting you guys!"

Out on the sidewalk I looked both ways, tapping the end of my shoe on the concrete. This whole day had bothered me, and Kish not showing up at the end was just the icing on the cake. I bit the inside of my cheek as I made my way towards home, pushing my hair away from my face as the wind blew around me. It was becoming strong, almost knocking me off my feet more than once. _What's up with this crazy wind?_ I thought as I kept trying to press on. But then my feet began to lose their grip with the ground.

I screamed as I was lifted up and thrown back, landing hard on someone's front lawn. Thank goodness for snow, or else I might have landed on the frozen ground. Pushing snow away from my face I looked up at the sky. Ominous clouds were flying across each other, darkening the day to almost black. I climbed out of the snow drift I'd landed in, shaking slush from my hat and coat as I stood. I tried to make my way back to the road, but I was almost thrown back again.

With the wind in my ears I couldn't hear anything. Not even the footsteps of someone running towards me. So when someone's arms wrapped around me I screamed in terror and surprise. After some needless scrambling, I managed to look through my wild hair and see who had a hold of me. "Kish!" I cried in surprise, managing to get a hold of his jacket.

"Lily! Don't worry, I've got you," he said into my ear. But it was almost lost to the wind as it picked up even more. I could feel it pulling us apart even though we were holding on to each other as tightly as we could. "Don't let go, okay?"

I nodded, since he wouldn't have really heard me anyway. I kept my hold on his jacket, but the wind was beginning to become too strong for me to keep as tight a grip as I wanted. My feet had a hard time finding purchase as Kish tried to move us out of the crazy wind. But somewhere between making it back to the sidewalk and Kish starting to say something, the gale around us managed to creep between small spaces between us, and soon I was hurtling away from him. A strange bright light followed in my wake, and Kish's shout was lost on the roar of the wind as I landed in even more snow down the street.

From where I was steadily becoming buried under snow, I could see Kish trying to make his way through the wind toward me. "Kish," I croaked. My vision was steadily failing me, it was so cold and I didn't know how long I was going to stay awake. I weakly reached a hand out toward Kish, but he was so far away, and I was becoming so tired. Slowly my eyes began to close, and soon I drifted off into the blackness.

* * *

_Where am I?_

I slowly blinked my eyes open, wincing when a bright light shined in front of me. Groaning slightly I sat up, narrowing my eyes and letting them slowly adjust to light. It looked like it was . . . coming closer? Peering at it carefully I saw it was indeed moving, swaying side to side slightly like an animal would when walking. Unsure of what to do, I just sat there as it kept swaying toward me.

When it was close enough the light disappeared, leaving behind what appeared to be a baby panda. It looked so small compared to how large the light had seemed, no bigger than a full-grown house cat. With an unsteady hand I reached out a little, wanting to touch it but at the same time not. It moved its muzzle forward enough that its nose touched my palm. It felt cold and wet, just like I had always imagined any animal's would be, so, feeling a little braver, I moved my hand over the panda's head, feeling how soft its wooly fur was. I was so enraptured by this animal that I tweaked its ears a little, even pulling it in for a hug. It snuggled its head against my shoulder, its fur feeling so warm and soft that I held it closer. Then it began to disappear.

At first I thought it was leaving, but then I watched with my own eyes as it slowly absorbed into my body. I didn't even question it, only looked on as if I was outside my body. The warmth the baby panda left behind surrounded me, blanketing me in heat. I closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around myself to hold in this heat, it felt so nice, almost intoxicating. Then it was altogether gone, and everything disappeared.

* * *

Sounds were muffled as I felt myself being shifted. My brain felt even worse than this morning as my numb fingers twitched in awareness when the snow above me moved in one big pile. Weak sunlight filtered through the ice and a cold breeze blew over me. My shivering had stopped long ago, and the feeling in my legs was only slight, enough to where I could feel my limbs being grabbed. I was being lifted off the ground, I could tell, but I just couldn't feel it.

I tried to open my eyes, but my eyelashes were frozen together, which made it difficult. My fingers twitched again as the numb sensation of another person's hand touched mine. It hurt, and my hand jerked back as a reflect. Through my fuzzy ears I could hear someone trying to talk to me. Then there was another voice. Then another. How many people were around me?

"She's waking up," I finally heard. There was more, but I didn't catch it because it wasn't said in my direction. I tried twisting my head so I could hear them, but my neck refused to bend or move in any direction. It would have been frustrating if I hadn't started to shiver again.

The shivering wasn't helping to keep me awake, and soon my teeth began to chatter. I managed to open my eyes enough to see that I wasn't outside anymore. There was a ceiling above me, and when I shifted my eyes around I could see white walls, a computer, a window. The shades and drapes were drawn, so I couldn't tell if it was light out anymore, and my internal clock was all out of sorts. I attempted to sit up, but a monster headache sent me straight back down. I rubbed the back of my hand against my eyes and rolled slowly onto my side to try sitting up a little easier.

_What a crazy dream._

My hand slid over something soft, and as I lifted my head from what felt like a bunch of feathers, I saw that I was in a bed. Whose, I wasn't sure, but it looked like it belonged to a boy. Looking down at what I was wearing, my thoughts were more reassured. My heavy coat, hat, and other winter wear were replaced by a white tee and pajama pants. I found this a little disconcerting that someone had undressed me while I was unconscious, especially when I found that I wasn't wearing a bra either. I really wanted my clothes back.

Since I'd managed to sit up, I swung my legs around until my toes could touch the floor. Sliding carefully from the bed I took a couple steps toward the door that was slightly ajar only a few feet away, but my legs began to shake so much that I crashed to the floor. I caught myself on a corner of the bed when I landed, but I made so much noise hitting the floor that I was sure someone had heard. When no one came running I tried again. This time my legs stayed steady long enough that I could grab the door to keep me standing.

The hallway was empty as I made my way toward what sounded like voices. They were coming from somewhere below, and after stepping down a set of stairs I soon found myself at a door that was slightly ajar. I stood as still as I could and listened for a moment. My ears strained to hear who was talking on the other side of the door. Pushing it ever so slightly, I peeked around the edge to try and find out.

On the other side of the door I saw that it opened into the largest kitchen I'd ever seen. The white cabinets almost gleamed under the light, and the oven island was covered with trays of goodies: chocolate brownie eclairs, apple tarts, short cakes. There were so many it was hard to tell what some of them even really were. But the one thing I did know was that I was hungry, and these treats weren't making it any better. Pulling my eyes away from the food I padded across the shiny linoleum toward the Western swinging doors. I was pretty sure they led somewhere, and I hoped it wasn't anywhere bad. The voices seemed to be closer anyway, so maybe it was a good thing.

I pushed through the swinging doors and kept down another hallway. In only a few feet I stepped into what looked like a café. A pretty cute café! There were pillars around the room, a booth-like counter where someone probably stood to take payment, and hearts were apparently a main part of the decorations. Looking around in awe I grasped the edge of my apparently new T-shirt, wringing it between my hands as I walked throughout the place. It was just so pretty!

"What are you doing down here?"

Startled that I wasn't alone, I tripped over my own feet as I tried to spin around. When I fell a sharp pain jolted up my spine. I must have landed on my tailbone, nothing felt that painful. Turning my attention from myself to who stood in front of me, I peered up through my lashes to see a boy with hair blond-er than mine standing before me. He had his hands on his hips and a slight grin on his face as he looked down at me. "When I asked what you were doing down here, I didn't mean the floor, you know," he said, extending a hand to me.

Looking up at him warily, I slowly held my hand out to him, my fingers still twitching. Probably thinking that I was taking too long, he grabbed my hand and yanked me to my feet. I stumbled forward, my still weak legs carrying me past him. I expected him to stop me from falling, or at least quit grinning at me, but he just let me go. I closed my eyes, dreading hitting the floor again, but I fell against something warm, something that wasn't the floor.

"Ryou, maybe you shouldn't let a girl go falling like that. It's not polite." Opening my eyes and looking above me, I found myself staring into the eyes of probably the prettiest guy I'd seen in a while. He had a pale face, long brown hair, and a nice smile. At least, it was nicer than the blond boy's. He kept me steady as he helped me to sit down in a chair he'd pulled out. "He's not always like that," he said to me. "He can be nice, when he wants to be."

I had no idea what to say, so I just nodded. He smiled at me again, holding my hand as if I were an important woman, kissing my hand and introducing himself as Keiichiro. I blushed madly as he released my hand then excused himself, saying he was going to make something to eat that was easy on the stomach. What kind of food was that, I wondered mildly as my eyes returned to the blond boy, Ryou, I think Keiichiro had said. He was still standing, his hands in his pockets now as he leaned against one of the pillars, staring into space.

"Um . . ." I started, but quickly cut off when he looked at me. It was so nerve-wracking having his eyes - also brighter than mine! - peering in my direction. Oh jeez. "Wh-where am I?" I tried again. I hated the way he looked at me, like he was staring straight through me, almost as if he was seeing someone else. Then they focused on me for real this time, seeming to size me up now. Probably to decide whether I was a threat.

"I'm surprised you haven't asked what happened yet." He pushed off the pillar, walking toward the back of the restaurant, the direction his companion had gone. It was through those Western swinging doors that I'd come through earlier, and as Ryou pushed through them I quickly stood, scrambling to think of something. Should I follow him? I decided I should, stepping quickly across the floor behind him, my bare feet barely making any noise. I stopped at the doors, peeking over them at the two men on the other side. I saw Keiichiro near the island, his back to me, chopping something that was on the counter; Ryou sat on the island behind him, speaking to him in a low voice. I strained my ears to hear, even though I shouldn't have.

"Are you sure we shouldn't tell her yet?" Ryou murmured to Keiichiro as he continued to chop.

He merely nodded as an answer, his eyes never straying from his work. "She probably wouldn't remember much anyway. She was in the snow for quite a few hours, correct?" Using his knife, he swept what appeared to be sliced peaches lightly across the cutting board and onto a porcelain plate. There were already slices of cantaloupe on it as he carried the plate of fruit with him to the fridge. From the top shelf he retrieved something that looked like a container of cream cheese. He dropped a dollop in the middle of the plate, apparently finishing off what he'd called food that was "easy on the stomach."

Ryou leaned back on his hands as he said, "Yeah, she was lucky we found her before hypothermia set in. That would have been a problem for the Project."

Keiichiro gave a low laugh. "Ryou, you can be quite mean sometimes. She's not just a biological weapon, none of them are."

_B-biological weapons?_ I pressed my back against the wall, sliding down until I was sitting on the floor. _W-why would . . . He . . . He's not talking about _me, _is he?_ They continued to speak in the kitchen, but I wasn't listening anymore. Keiichiro had said something about biological weapons, as in plural. If, _if_, he was indeed talking about me, who else was a part of this? I gritted my teeth and listened back in. Apparently they'd paused in their conversation. Maybe I should pop in now.

"Um, R-Ryou?" They both looked at me as I pushed one of the swinging doors open. I could feel the slight tension in the air as I slowly made my way over to the island. I pushed my hair out of my eyes as I looked at Ryou as he hopped off the island and stood in front of me, his arms crossed. "Can I have my uniform back, please?"

Apparently, they hadn't expected this, and it was written all over their faces as they looked at each other with bewildered expressions. They looked back at me, still glancing at each other. "Yeah, hold on." He went off to the stairwell on the far side of the kitchen, clomping up to the second floor.

I looked back at Keiichiro. "I took the liberty to wash your uniform and coat for you. You were in the snow for quite some time," he said, holding out the plate of fruits to me. I reached for a piece of cantaloupe, dipping an end into the cream cheese. I'd never tried it before but now was a good time.

I raised an eyebrow. "And my bra?"

This direct a question seemed to bother him a little. He didn't seem used to questions as blunt as mine. Glad I wasn't the only one uncomfortable. "One of our employees helped you dress while you were unconscious. If you'd like, you can probably meet them when they come into work later this afternoon."

"This afternoon?" I looked around for a clock. "What time is it anyways?"

He tugged on the cuff of his dress shirt, glancing at a watch he had strapped on his wrist. "If my watch is correct, they should be here in about thirty minutes. The café opens at about four-thirty and they're usually here an hour before opening."

"Wait wait wait. Four-thirty?" I held my hands in the air, palms facing him as I tried to figure this out. "You said that they get here about an hour before opening?" He nodded, a small smile on his face as he watched the gears turn in my head. Obviously smoke must have been pouring out of my ears, I was thinking through this so thoroughly. "So if they're getting here in half and hour, and you guys open at four-thirty, then that means it's about . . . three 'o clock now?"

He gave a show of clapping his hands, saying, "Bravo," for my expense. Since that apparently meant I was correct, I groaned, grabbing at my hair and tugging. This was bad, this was so, so bad. "How long was I out?" I asked him.

He set the plate back down, seeing that I obviously wasn't going to eat anymore. "Give or take, between at least eighteen to twenty-two hours. We took turns watching after you while you slept."

"Slept? Oh man, I was out for at least a day. What is my mom going to say when she finds out that I didn't come home last night? I am so dead it's not even funny . . ." I began to pace the kitchen floor and continued to ramble on with all the things that could have and probably did go wrong. I was so glad that my dad was still overseas or I never would have heard the end of this one. "I need to go home."

Before Keiichiro could stop me, I ran back through the kitchen doors, planning on making an escape through the front doors, but the sight of three girls coming in stopped me. They were talking among each other as they walked through the tables, oblivious of me until one of them looked up. She had dark hair and was dressed nicely, her eyes widening when she first saw me; she held out a hand to stop the girl beside her. The other two looked at her when she suddenly stopped, then their eyes moved to me when they followed her gaze.

I'd been in a couple of situations like this where I'd manage to divert their attention and run, but for the moment I felt like a deer in headlights as we stared at each other. None of seemed to move, a slight tension in the air as the dark-haired girl narrowed her eyes. The other two girls, one with green hair, the other blonde, looked at me with innocent eyes.

"So you finally woke up?"

I flinched at the sudden sound of her voice. It wasn't as harsh as I had first expected it to be, but it still set me on edge. I slid my feet back a few inches, edging my way back from them. These could be the girls that Keiichiro had told me about a few minutes ago, but I didn't want to take any chances.

"What's with those clothes? Keiichiro told us that you'd needed a change of clothes, but we never expected Ryou to volunteer some of his."

When she said this, I pulled at the shirt. I knew it had been too big, same with the pants. I'd never worn a guy's clothes before except for something of my dad's, but come on! Why did it have to be something from someone I'd just met, especially someone who seemed as rude as Ryou? I was about to defend myself about the clothes when Ryou poked his head over the kitchen doors. Speak of the devil.

"Here you are. I've got your uniform right here. And anything else that had to be washed." He seemed slightly flushed in the face as he handed me a folded bundle. It was my uniform I saw, and so I lifted the folded skirt enough to see my bra hidden under the layers. My face burned and I thanked him under my breath. "If you want, you can head back to my room to change. The rest of the staff should be here soon."

I gave him a slight nod and hurried around him. This was so embarrassing! A guy washing almost everything I'd been wearing. I would never live this down if he brought it up, I realized as I raced up the kitchen stairs. I locked the door behind me and changed as quickly as I could once I was in his room. It wasn't until I was pulling on my newly found shoes that I looked around me. The room was bare except for a computer and the bed I had woken up on. The window overlooked the backyard of the café, which wasn't much, just a long lawn with a path on one side and trees on the other.

"Wow!" I pushed a drape out of the way so I could see outside. The ground was covered with snow, all the way to the hedge that lined the backyard. I played with the lock of the window, pushing it open to lean into the fresh air. The wind was biting, but it felt so good that I couldn't help but laugh. As I hung my arms out into the snow that was falling lightly out of my reach, something surfaced at the back of my mind. I couldn't remember what it was, but the memory kept poking at me. It was starting to bother me. So much so that I was about to pull myself back inside, but something grabbed at my arm.

I cried out in fear when I saw something wrapped around my arm. It looked like a vine, and I followed the length of it up with my eyes, landing on what looked like a child floating in mid-air. They held the long vine wrapped around their own hand, and when they gave a tug, thorns dug into my wrists. I screamed in sudden pain, slowly becoming terrified as the child started coming closer. I tried to pull away, but when I grabbed the vine to remove it from arm, more thorns just dug into my skin. I could see blood welling around them as it dripped from my arm.

"So you're the girl who he's started his plans around?" The child grinned at me, his sharp teeth gleaming in the light shining off the snow below. "You're so ordinary, maybe that's why he chose you. Maybe you don't even realize it yet." He laughed at my confused face. "You're dumb, too!"

He gave another tug, sending the vines even deeper into my flesh. I bit my lip to keep from screaming again and I felt blood in my mouth. I'd bitten through my lip, but I kept the tears that pooled in my eyes from falling. This was just another pain I could handle, I swore it. I wasn't going to show any fear to this sadistic-appearing child as I demanded, "Who are you?"

But he just laughed at me. "That's the same thing she asked me the first time we met. Has she told you about us yet, or is she going to keep you in the dark?" He pulled the vine back, making me edge out of the window and over the snow. My stomach was pressed against the sill of the window, digging into my middle through the thin shirt as I balanced over thing air.

"L-let me go! Please!" I tried to pull my arms back, ignoring when the vines pierced them once more. I couldn't even feel it anymore, there was just so much pain. With numb fingers, I grabbed at the vine, disregarding the slight pain now. Using as much strength as I could in my pain-filled arms, I pulled it hard. This surprised the child, and he lost his grip. Doing so released me, but because I was balancing on the window sill, the sudden pull on the vine had me falling forward, and I cried out as I slipped over the sill.

Seeing that I was falling, I closed my eyes and prepared myself for the drop to the ground. But suddenly my descent was slowed, a blinding light shining around me as I neared the snow below. The light felt so warm, like the fur of the panda from that dream I'd had, so much so that I didn't fight it when it seemed to overtake me entirely. I didn't even question it when my feet touched the ground and I didn't feel the snow. Opening my eyes, I looked down at myself. I was dressed in a strange outfit, something that would have almost looked like a bathing suit if it hadn't appeared so silly. "Wh-what am I wearing?" I cried, stumbling around in the snow and pulling at the clothes. Using the finger-less gloves that I now wore on my hands I ripped at the vines until they released my wrists.

Laughter floated down above me, and when I looked up I saw the child clutching his middle. He was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face. Down in the snow, I just stood there, confused, even more so than a few minutes before. It looked like he knew what was going on, so I called out to him, "Do you know what this is?"

That seemed to get him out of his laughing fit, long enough that he could answer my question. "Oh come on, Mew Mew! You've been playing dumb, haven't you?" He disappeared out of thin air, suddenly appearing right in front of me. "Tell me you at least know what you are."

"Of course I know who I am!" I stammered. This kid was really getting to me. "Who are you?" I repeated.

Just like I knew he would, he laughed again. But he actually answered my question this time when he said, "Call me Taruto. I'm only telling you because you're going to die here and now!" He reached a hand behind him and the vine that had been wrapped around my arms moments ago flew into his hand. Holding his arm above his head, he whipped the vine at me. I held my arm up to protect my face, and the vine wound its way around my limb once more. He gave a rough tug and I went stumbling into the snow face first.

I spat out the frosted dirt, wiping at my face as Taruto hovered above me, cackling. He pulled on the vine to make my arm bend behind my back. I screamed into the snow as my muscles protested against the wrong direction my arm was going. Tears froze on my face as Taruto forced me into a sitting position. He spun the vine around me, making it tightly hold me as he dropped in front of me. His bare feet barely crushed the snow as he leaned toward my face, keeping a tight grip on the vine. "This is going to be so much fun," he said as he pulled out what looked like a knife. He pressed the tip of it against my cheek, and I flinched when it broke the skin. A bead of blood ran down the edge of the blade, and Taruto brought the knife to his mouth, licking at the drop. Then he flipped his hold on it, raising it and preparing to slit my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, prepared for death as he began to bring the knife down.

"_RIBBON MINT ECHO!_"

Something flashed between me and Taruto, cutting the vine from his grasp. Surprised, he jumped back and I fell into the snow. Wriggling from the vines, I crawled backward away from him as he faced some new enemy that thankfully wasn't me. Rubbing my injured arms, I looked over and saw a girl standing in the snow not too far from when I was. In her hand she held what looked like a small bow, and it was aimed at Taruto. It was such a non-threatening-looking item that it bewildered me to think that it could cause much harm. Then she reached for the arrow, and the bow seemed to grow, becoming the size of a hunting bow.

"Leave, now," she commanded in such a strong voice that at first I thought she was talking to me. But then her eyes narrowed at Taruto, and she pulled the arrow until the string became taut. "I said leave."

Taruto gritted his teeth. "Tch! I'll be back." Then he disappeared into the air, calling out behind him, "You'd better watch your backs, Mew Mews!"

When he'd disappeared, I collapsed backward into the snow, grateful to still be able to feel the sting as the ice touched my wounds. It felt so good as it slowly numbed my skin, but my short moment alone was interrupted when the crunch of footprints started my way. Scrambling back into a sitting position I saw it was the girl who saved me. Her expression was different now, a little more welcoming now as she held a hand out to me. "Are you all right?" she asked.

This was the second time today that someone had extended a hand out to help me, but this time I wasn't really doubting the girl who held hers out to me. She'd just saved me from some psycho child who could fly. What was there that could really make this any worse than it already was? So I grabbed her hand and let her help pull me to my feet. I was about to thank her, but then she did something weird. She started to circle around me, apparently looking for something.

"A-ha. Here it is." She poked at my lower back, making me shriek in surprise and spin around. I covered my back and stared at her, my face burning. On her face she held a smug smile, her arms crossed as she said, "I'd wondered where it was when I first saw you, but that was a little too easy."

What was she talking about? I wondered as I took a couple of steps back. Maybe I was wrong about her? But she'd saved me, why would she want to hurt me if she'd only hurt me after all? I was becoming more suspicious by the moment as we just stood there in the biting cold, pretty much staring each other down. But then she smiled and said, "Here, let's get you inside so everything can be explained."

She walked toward the café and didn't even look behind her to check if I followed. She seemed so confident about herself, it was hard to not listen to her. Glancing around and not seeing anything else that could probably attack me, I warily followed her footsteps in the snow, hurrying behind her as she rounded the building. I hope someone really could explain what was going on, because I was completely and totally lost.

* * *

**A/N**: Well, there it is. Chapter one. I've spent maybe a week writing this, and I have no idea how many pages it is, because the word processor I use doesn't count pages. I just hope this makes up for the shortness of the prologue ^^"**  
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	3. The Most of It

**A/N**: I'm not dead, yay \(o3o)/ I have been without Internet for about three or so weeks, and I mostly drew over that period of time instead of writing like I should have ^^; But either way, I'd been working on this since I posted the first chapter, and I'm just happy that it's done! I'm in the process of writing chapter three right now, not sure when it'll be done though. Right now, I need a lot of strength from my followers, please!

* * *

"Stand. Bow."

We all stood and bowed like the teacher instructed, and a majority of my classmates immediately grabbed their bags and fled the room. I watched as everyone else hung around corners and their desks, biding their time until the teacher made them leave. Ichigo, Moe, and Miwa were talking at Moe's desk again, so when I slung my bag over my shoulder, I made sure to avoid hitting anybody today. With a glance behind me, I said goodbye to the three of them, my eye catching Ichigo's. I flashed back to my memory of yesterday, after Mint had saved me from Taruto.

We'd just gotten back inside from the snow, and I felt so cold that I didn't want to question anything anymore, I just wanted something to warm me up. There was a group of people standing near the kitchen doors. I saw the two girls from before talking to Ryou and Keiichiro in worried voices, asking about what was going on. When Ryou looked up and saw Mint and me, he said some hurried words to the girls and made his way over to us.

"What happened? We heard some loud noises outside, then Mint ran out the door before we could stop her." He looked between the two of us. I didn't even look Mint's way when she returned to normal, but out of the corner of my eye I saw that she was the girl who'd spoken to me earlier about my borrowed clothes.

"T-t-tell me h-how to get b-b-b-back to norm-m-mal," I stuttered around my chattering teeth. I was shaking so hard, I swore I couldn't feel even my toes. I looked up at Ryou through my bangs, trying to clamp my teeth together to make them stop quaking so hard.

"Just think about returning to normal."

That was all he had to tell me. I imagined myself in my uniform, my blonde hair, anything that resembled the normal me, and it was just like that. Exhausted, and finally feeling like I could keel over, I pretty much almost fainted. If it weren't for Ryou I would have hit the floor. He held me by my upper arms, almost dropping me as he lifted me into a nearby chair. "Hey." He lightly slapped my face. "Hey, calm down."

I pushed his hand away. I knew I should be grateful that he didn't let me hit the floor this time, but my patience was gone for the time being. Raising a hand, I rubbed the back of it over my forehead, and I looked around at everybody with hazy eyes. I was so tired, still so cold, that I looked for Keiichiro. I found him near one of the girls, talking in hushed voices with her. When I finally caught his eye, I managed to ask if I could have something warm to drink. My throat was killing me from breathing in all that cold air.

As Keiichiro went off to make some tea, I rested my head on the table and looked at the group that surrounded me. I saw the green-haired girl and the blonde, then a tall girl with raven hair and the one who'd saved me, Mint. There was another, the one face I recognized. She wore the same uniform as me, and I wouldn't miss that red hair anywhere. "Ichigo?" I murmured. She stepped foreward, dropping to one knee in front of me so we could be on eye level.

"Lily, what happened?" she asked in a low voice. She sounded worried, and somewhere in the back of my mind I figured she would be, but for the moment I didn't know what to think.

Squeezing my eyes shut I tried to think back as far as I could so I could answer her. I told her about how Taruto had pulled me out of the window, about what she told me was a transformation, finishing with Mint managing to save me. "Who was he?" I asked. "Why did he try to kill me?"

She looked at everybody around us, almost like she was confirming something. Apparently they agreed on whatever it was because Ichigo took a deep breath before she spoke. "That boy was an alien called Taruto. He's here with two other aliens named Pai and Kisshu to -"

I interrupted her. "Wait, what was that last name?" It sounded so close to - No, it couldn't be . . . Could it?

"Kisshu. Why?" She pronounced it as Kee-shoo. It was similar, but not enough. I sat up and leaned back in the chair, pressing the heels of my hands to my eyes.

"No reason. Let me guess, they're here to claim Earth or something?"

"Actually, yeah. How'd you know?" She looked at me as if I knew something I wasn't telling, or maybe shouldn't know.

I glanced at her for a moment, heaving a sigh. "I've just read some books on stuff like this." I leaned over the table. I didn't want want to talk anymore, but I could tell that there was more to the story than just the three aliens.

Thankfully, Keiichiro walked in at that moment carrying a tray of baked goods and a pot of tea. He set the goodies on the table and set out multiple sets of cups, pouring tea in each of them. Everybody grabbed a cup in turn, and one was set in front of me by Keiichiro. I looked up at him blankly, I was so tired. He smiled at me kindly, murmuring something to Ryou. Ryou nodded at whatever he'd been told, almost running back through the kitchen and up the stairs.

I paid this no attention, instead turning my eyes to the cup of tea that sat before me. It was a slightly-clear brown color, steam spiraling from the middle. I could see little bits of lemon floating near the bottom, and when I reached forward to touch the hot surface of it, they bounced away. It burned the tip of my finger, and as I stuck my scalded digit in my mouth, I could slightly taste the flavor of the tea. I furrowed my brow as the familiar taste overwhelmed my tastebuds. "Ginger tea . . . ?"

"I'm surprised you can tell by just a small taste." I looked up at Keiichiro. "I appeared to have judged you too lightly, Miss Lily."

I blushed at this light compliment, lifting the cup so I could taste the tea further. "My mother makes something similar at home," I mumbled into the rim. Mom hadn't taken much from England when she'd moved to Japan, but the one thing she had brought with her was her tea set. When the ingredients would run low, she'd always send me off to the super market to find some fresh ones. I wasn't raised to make tea, but I could distinguish their flavors. "Mm, lemon and brown sugar."

I was so busy relishing the taste of my tea that I almost missed the blanket being wrapped around my shoulders. Raising my eyes from the drink, I saw Ryou standing above me with his hands in his pockets. It looked like he had something to say, but when our eyes met he just looked away, instead saying, "Keiichiro reminded me to get a blanket for you. Don't think too much about it."

The thought really hadn't occured to me until that moment. The slight implication that I might have ran through my head for the moment, making my face blush. I huddled tighter into the confines of the blanket, holding my tea cup close. "I know you're doing it because of what happened outside, right?" They all looked at me, but I kept my eyes on my tea. "That kid, alien, whatever he was, called me a Mew Mew. Does he mean Tokyo Mew Mew?"

Everyone was silent around me, even the small group that had been talking with Keiichiro a few feet away. Mint was among them, probably telling them how much she'd seen before she had been able to intervene. She looked in my direction now as I lifted my head. I stared them all in the eye in turn, ending with Ryou in front of me. "Is that what you guys are?"

I tried to stare Ryou down, but he kept his cool, his eyes almost blank as he looked back at me. Before I could say anything else, Keiichiro stepped up and said, "I believe it's been a hard afternoon for you, Lily. Why don't you go and lie down for a little while? I can call your parents and explain everything if you'd like?" I didn't know what to say anymore. I kept my mouth shut for the moment, biting my lower lip as I gave a brisk nod to Keiichiro.

Finishing my tea, I set the cup on the table. I turned on my bare heel and walked past the girls and Ryou, pausing when I reached Mint. Peering up, I looked her in the eye and said, "Thank you for saving me, Mint." Then I pretty much ran away from the lot of them, through the kitchen, and up the stairs. I never made it to Ryou's room, but I sat outside his door for a while, thinking.

Back in the present, I rubbed absently at the bandage that covered my slight knife wound on my face from the day before. There were dozens that covered my arms, but the sleeves of my uniform covered them well enough that nobody could see them. I was actually glad it was winter. "See you tomorrow, Ichigo," I said as I turned to leave. But she called me back.

"Lily, can I talk to you?" I glanced over my shoulder at her. She looked like she was determined to talk to me, but I wasn't in any mood to hear anybody out right now. She was probably trying to get me to come back to the cafe for a further explanation.

I took a step away, wishing I could just run. "Sorry, not today. Mom wants me home right after school. Bye." I spun on my heel and hurried away as fast as my legs could carry me, almost running out of the classroom to escape a conversation with Ichigo that would inevitabely turn awkward.

Outside there was a light snow fall, and there was enough of a wind to make me tug my beanie further over my ears and my scarf over my face. My eyes roamed the courtyard, searching for Kish; he was nowhere to be found. Again he wasn't at the school gates to walk home with me. This was beginning to get weird. But before I could really think it over, I hurried out into the streets and raced down the sidewalk, trying to get as much distance between the school - well, it was more Ichigo than the school - and me. I really didn't want to talk to anybody today.

My mom ruined that when I got home, asking me how my day was and if I wanted to help her with dinner. I knew it would seem weird if I declined, so I begrudgingly helped her. She actually acted as if nothing was wrong, and I wondered what Keiichiro and Ryou had told her when she said, "Oh, I got a call from your teacher today."

I almost dropped the bowl I had been mixing batter in. We were having muffins as dessert, something of a guilty pleasure when my dad wasn't around, and Mom had set me to stirring. Now I set the dish on the counter and looked at my mom as she turned the oven on. She seemed oblivious when I asked, "Oh? What'd you talk about?" as smoothly as I could. But even _I_ could hear how shaky my voice was. I bit my lip anxiously.

"Well, he said that your studies are okay, and that your school had an overnight study session at one of your classmate's house the day before yesterday. Why didn't you tell me about it?"

I was speechless. My homeroom teacher was female, and the only male teacher I had was for math; he taught, I learned, that was our only interaction. But then it hit me. Of course, it had to have been Keiichiro! He must have swooned my mom or something over the phone to convince her I was at a classmate's house.

"Lily?" Sensing my hesitation, Mom looked over her shoulder at me, waiting for an answer.

"Oh, sorry," I said quickly. "I have a headache right now. Um, I was going to call you before I left school, but my phone was dead. When I got to my classmate's house, they told me they didn't have a house phone, and her mom collected all the phones because she didn't want us to cause any mischief. I'm sorry I didn't contact you." I ran a finger over the edge of the bowl, finished with my hurried explanation and hoping it made sense. Thankfully, my mom didn't look suspicious in the slightest as she went through the cupboards to search for some spices.

"Well, all right." She pulled a couple shakers of spices down, setting them by the oven. "But next time I want you to call home before you go over to a friend's house, all right?"

I nodded. "I promise."

* * *

Later, I lay sprawled across my bed, Star curled on my stomach. I was petting him absently as I stared at my ceiling, mulling over information I had learned the past couple days. It wasn't something someone could take in a single sitting, just absorbing everything you were being told like a sponge and be able to answer any question they asked you about what you learned; this wasn't a school lesson with a quiz afterward.

After I'd pretty much ran from the cafe floor with my tail between my legs, one of the girls had come to find me after a while. They'd found me sitting in front of Ryou's door where it felt like I'd been sitting there for hours. My legs were falling asleep from being curled on the floor for so long, and it was kind of almost a relief to see someone, anyone, come up the stairs after so long.

It was the girl with green hair. She was carrying a tray similar to the one Keiichiro had brought from the kitchen; it was even stacked with similar goodies. She set the try on the floor beside me, dropping to her knees before me. Her long braids flowed across the floor as she made herself comfortable, tucking her skirt over her knees. Then she raised her eyes to mine, shyly, and the first thing out of her mouth was, "I hope we don't frighten you. I know you're probably having a hard time understanding everything right now."

Blinking slowly, I looked from her to the tray beside me. I felt so befuddled. I'd expected someone to come off and go at me for being rude downstairs, but saying this girl surprised me would be an understatement. "Um, yeah. I guess you could say I am." I glanced at the goodies again.

I looked up when she giggled. She was smiling slightly, and the look in her eyes behind her glasses was kind. "You can have one if you want. Keiichiro made a new batch of them when I asked if he could."

Now I was confused. This girl didn't know me, why was she being so nice and polite? She wasn't pitying me, was she? I narrowed my eyes slightly, scooting back against the wall. I kept my eyes on the tray as I pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping the blanket tightly around my body. Letting my hair fall around my face, I tried to appear withdrawn as I said, "I'm okay. I'm supposed to be watching what I eat."

If that was supposed to deter her, I was completely wrong. She merely appeared slightly anxious when I said that, and it only made her stutter on. "Oh, I'm sorry. I only thought that since you hadn't eaten since yesterday that you might be hungry. I didn't think to ask before I brought these to you. I was hoping they could make you feel better if you ate them." She bent over and bowed, her forehead probably touching the floor as she apologized. "I'm sorry!"

If I'd been confused before, now I was just completely lost. What did she have to apologize for? Nobody in the building knew that I wasn't supposed to eat anything high in sugar since my dad usually forbade it when he was home from his oversea business trips. He didn't really like it when he found my and Mom's secret stashes hidden around the house. But denying the sweets at that moment was out of habit since I'd always kept away from them. "Um, there's no need to apologize. I guess I could eat one." _Dad'll never know, at least._

The tray still sat by my side, so I reached out of the blanket and grabbed a random goodie from the small pile. It felt fluffy between my fingers as I brought it into my makeshift cocoon, and I could feel the eyes of the girl as I twisted it in my hand. From what I could tell, it was a type of Danish. It was cut into a square with a layer of glazing on top. It smelled heavenly when I took a breath, the scent of it filling the small space. With the girl watching me, I knew she was waiting anxiously for me to take a bite, so I bit off a small corner of the danish.

A wave of flavor washed through my mouth, over my taste buds. I pulled the blanket closer to mask how much I liked the taste of the pastry, savoring just the small bite I'd taken. I pretty much stuffed the rest of it into my mouth, taking advantage of my hidden face for the moment. For a moment I just sat there, looking at my hands that were covered in crumbs. Shame made my face burn as I peeked from my wooly hollow at the girl. She was still sitting there, smiling patiently at me, possibly anticipating my reaction. "Um. It was good."

She beamed at me, clasping her hands in front of her chest as she said, "Oh thank goodness. I'm sure Keiichiro will appreciate that you liked it. Do you want another one?" She gestured toward the tray again, but I shied away from it. I knew that if I took another one, I wouldn't stop. So I shook my head and asked, "Do you want one?"

She blinked her eyes a couple times, like she was shocked I had asked. I wouldn't say that she didn't comprehend, it just looked like I'd surprised her. "Oh. Um, sure." She reached a hand toward the tray, picking one from the top. I watched her as she nibbled on the Danish, taking small bites every time. Pushing the blanket back, I leaned against the bedroom door behind me, blowing hair out of my face. It was interesting, just keeping my eyes on the girl as she slowly got around to eating half the pastry. She was almost like a bird, so precise with her bites, and so very different from me. Clicking my teeth slightly, I managed to gather enough courage to speak. "What's your name, anyway?" _Oh shoot. I didn't mean for that to sound rude._ I bit my lip as she looked at me.

"Lettuce," she said, smiling again. It was such a sweet smile that I berated myself even more for having asked her so rudely. "What's yours?"

It was impossible for me to look at her as I replied, "Lily." To cover my embarrassment I took another danish, even though I knew I'd already said I wouldn't. It was the only thing to keep me occupied as I took a big enought bite to fill my mouth so I would have to speak anymore. I wasn't very polite, was I?

She held her smile as she said, "I like that name. Lilies are pretty flowers, don't you think?"

I kept silent as I finally managed to look up at her, licking crumbs from my finger. She slowly started panicking again, going off with "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything I shouldn't. I just meant that they were nice flowers, I'm sorrrry!"

It was just so odd, so random, that she apologized, bowing again and repeating sorry over and over again. Soon I couldn't help it. I began to laugh, the blanket sent falling to the floor as I almost fell over myself. Giggles made my body shake violently as I tried to make them stop, but it was just too much. This girl was just so weird, it was funny!

All the while I'd been laughing, Lettuce had just looked up at me from where she knelt, a confused look in her eyes. Once I'd managed to calm down, I wiped at the tears that flooded my eyes. I'd been laughing so hard I'd been crying tears from humor overload. They streamed down my cheeks as I rubbed the heels of my hands over my eyes, still giggling a little. Looking at Lettuce, I smiled for what felt like the first time that day. Yes, I still wanted to go and wish everything was normal. I yearned to just crawl into my bed and dream everything that had happened earlier into my imagination where it would stay. But, it seemed like that was pretty much not going to happen, so I decided I might as well face reality.

Wrapping the towel around my legs, I rested my chin on top of my knees as I looked at Lettuce through new eyes. She didn't look any different, but now I could see some similarities in our situations. I'd bet that she'd had no choice in this decision either, if my thoughts were correct. Maybe I could buck up, puff up my chest, and take that one step forward I'd need to make if I probably wanted to stay sane. I needed something to ask first. "Lettuce?"

She sat up quickly. "Yes?"

"I want in on the maid job."

Blink. That's all she did as she just looked at me. "Wh-what?"

I pointed at her uniform. I hadn't really looked at it before, but during her second round of apologies I'd noticed that she was wearing what looked almost like a maid's uniform with loose restrictions. I liked how it looked, but maybe the heart-shaped apron was a little too much for my tastes.

Lettuce looked down at her self, laughing when she saw she was indeed wearing the uniform. "I'd completely forgotten I was wearing this," she said. "I've just gotten so used to changing right after I get here that I don't even really realize it anymore." Suddenly, she grew quiet as she looked down at the hardwood floor. "The job, though, you'll have to ask Ryou and Keiichiro about that. But," she continued when she saw my disappointed expression, "maybe you will be able to help, we are a little short, even with five girls working the floor."v

This seemed promising. I knew it seemed like I'd changed face so quickly in front of Lettuce that it must have been surprising that I'd just ask for a job out of the blue. I'd thought it had been like a maid job or something, I'd never seen cafe uniforms like the ones they wore. From cafes that I'd been to, I'd seen waiters and waitresses just dressed nicely when they brought food to our tables, not like what Lettuce wore. But it was still cute! I had to at least see what the job really was if I was going to try it out. So I nodded my head, saying, "Okay." Then, after a little convincing, Lettuce lead me back downstairs. I kept the blanket tightly wrapped around me, nervous as if I were going to battle.

_I can deal with a bunch of teenagers. You can do this_, I mentally cheered. I gritted my teeth when we reached the first floor, and I could feel my fingers tremble in the folds of the blanket. I clenched them tight, hoping to quell the tremors. When we went through the kitchen's swinging doors back into the cafe, I was visibly shaking. Everybody looked up when we walked in.

Keeping my eyes up even though I was terrified, I took a deep breath. "I'm in."

* * *

In my bed, I continued to run my hand over Star's coat, twining my fingers in the woolyness of his chest fur. He was so fuzzy. I think we needed to buzz the long hair off this coming spring so he wouldn't feel too hot, but maybe he'd shed enough that it wouldn't be necessary. Either way, I kept my eyes up and my thoughts running as I continued to pet him. I was actually starting to drift off. My room felt so warm and cozy, and Star's soft purring was lulling me into a stupor. But a _ping!_ above my head startled me back into awareness. Agitated, Star jumped off my bed and ran beneath it for cover.

_Scaredy cat_, I thought as I slowly sat up, rubbing the sleepiness from my eyes. Yawning, I leaned over to look out my window, my eyes roving our front yard. Outside I saw nothing but snow. I was about to lie back down when there was another _ping!_ against my window. I sped back to the pane and quickly searched the ground below, my eyes catching every shadow strip that spanned the snow. Again, I didn't see anything, so in a last attempt, I opened my window and leaned out. The breeze felt cool against my face, whipping my hair around as I looked across my yard once more. I was expecting what I figured were rocks being tossed at my window, but I didn't expect one to the face.

"Ow!" I cried. In my attempt to scramble back inside, I banged my head on the raised part of my window, giving me more of a reason to clock somebody. Who was it throwing rocks, anyway? Covering my nose with one hand and holding the back of my head with the other, I looked directly below my window. There I finally found my culprit. "Kish! Darn it, why can't you knock like a normal person?"

He dropped anymore rocks he held, wiping his hands off on his pants. "Because I don't knock. This is more theatrical, don't you think?" There was that cheeky grin again. He always found a way to show it off one way or another. "Sorry about catching you in the face. That rock was meant for the window."

I could feel my patience begin to grow thinner as my headache started to throb. Squeezing my eyes shut, I called down to him, "What do you want, Kish?" As close as I'd been to sleep, I was becoming irritated that I'd been brought back to full consciousness. Sometimes his antics weren't worth it. But I still dealt with 'em.

His stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets, his breath coming out as a puff of cloud as he said, "Go on a date with me."

_What?_ I stared down at him, my headache and hurting nose forgotten for the moment as I looked at him. What did he mean a date? Like, as just friends, or more than that? I was so confused. All we'd ever really done was go some places after school and hang around at the park, but I'd never seen them as dates. I didn't even know what to call them. "What do you mean by date?" I asked him warily.

He just smiled and shrugged. "Wherever you wanna go. We haven't been anywhere in a long time." He hugged his jacket tighter around him against the wind. Looking up at me through his bangs, he seemed to expect my answer.

I wanted to give him a well-thought answer, so I bit the inside of my cheek as I ran through places that would be open during the winter time. The parks would probably be crowded with couples since Christmas wasn't too far away, and I really didn't want to see any lovey-dovey situations. Too awkward. There was only one other place I could think of.

* * *

"Whoa! _Whoa!_" I flailed my arms in an attempt to stay on my feet, pinwheeling them in a fashion that I was sure made me look like an idiot. I didn't really care how foolish I looked as my feet screeched across the ice, the blades of my skates scraping along at uneven intervals.

I coud hear Kish skate up behind me, his arms catching me as I almost bumped into another skater. He laughed at the determination clearly written on my face as I continued to try and steady my wobbly feet. "Maybe going ice skating wasn't the best idea, Lily." He chuckled as I pushed him away with a huff.

"Shut up. I used to be good at this." Truthfully, I hadn't been ice skating since I was maybe five, a time before I'd known Kish. Around that time we hadn't even lived in Japan. We were living with my maternal grandparents at their house in France. It was always lively around them, my grandfather either playing a tune on the piano or my grandmother singing with my sister (Yes, I have an older sister, I'm not an only child.) and I as we helped her around the kitchen. My older sister Calla is four years older than me, so she could actually handle utensils like knives and such, while I could only carry a few plates at a time; Grandma always handled the food.

Now, behind their house they had a large pond. In the summers we would swim and fish, and in the winter we'd ice skate across the frozen surface. My sister, being older, had a slightly better handle at staying balanced. She was able to skate over the ice better than I ever could have hoped to at the age of five, but over the years when we visted for holidays and such I grew more accustomed to the slippery surface in my cheap hand-me-down ice skates from when my mom had been big on ice skating.

I was so engrossed in my memories that I proceeded to miss signs that would have warned me I was going to fall. I only realized I was lying on the ice when I felt a sharp pain against the back of my skull. Lights danced before my eyes as I blinked up at Kish when he leaned over me. "Whoa, Lily. You all right?" He hefted me into an upright position, crouching next to me when I winced.

I felt a little woozy, probably from cracking my head on the solidness of the ice, not to mention that bump from earlier. Feeling the back of my head, I could feel a slight goose egg forming over the previous one. It felt tender to the slightest touch, making myself flinch when I lightly traced the bump. As if I needed anymore injuries added to my inventory of cuts and bruises. "Yeah." I decided to leave it alone for the moment, looking back up at Kish with slightly hazy eyes. "I should be fine. I just have a slight headache now."

With some effort we managed to get back to standing positions, my grip on Kish's arm probably bruising him through his coat sleeve. He didn't say anything, just kept a hand at my shoulder as he looked over my head. I started to say something to him, but there was a sudden tremor beneath our feet, causing me to lose my voice. I looked around as other skaters around us started panicking, some scrambling to get off the ice and over the snow, others falling down hard onto the ice as it began to crack. My own feet were becoming more unstable as the shaking grew stronger. I would have lost my balance completely if Kish hadn't been holding on to me.

Keeping both arms wrapped around me, he tried to tell me something over the clamor of voices around us, but a high pitch wail made him cut off. Behind him the ice broke into giants chunks, frigid water spewing from the jagged hole. People really began to scream then, kicking off their skates and climbing over the ice in their socks in their panic. I held onto Kish as tight as I could manage, slipping slightly on my skating blades.

"Take your skates off." I almost missed them, Kish's words were almost as soft as the wind, but I looked up at him when arm tightened around me. His hand gripped my shoulder, keeping me from turning around to see what he was looking at. When I heard a high pitched wailing sound erupt from the hole in the ice, I struggled to look behind me, almost clawing at Kish to make him let go.

"Kish, let go!" Using the unstableness of my skates' hold on the ice top, our feet became tangled, sending us both to the ice. I scrambled to my hands and knees, sliding slightly across the ice as I spun around. Then I wished I hadn't.

Crawling out from the ice was something that looked like a mutated lizard. It was large and scaly, fur sprouting from around its neck and I think what would have been elbows, if its legs didn't have two joints instead of one where they would bend. Its tongue flicked in and out of its mouth, tasting the frozen air. It swiveled it head toward the broken ice as it slithered across the chunks. From the looks of it, the lizard-monster was blind, both smelling with its feet like a butterfly and with its tongue like a snake.

I reached a hand in Kish's direction, refusing to take my eyes off the things as my shaking fingers patted the ice as I searched. When my finger tips touched his arm I grabbed it tightly with both of mine, sliding back toward him. In my fear my brain managed to remember what he'd said, and I began to try and kick my already loosened skates off my feet. They held to my socks, my kicking soon becoming frantic as I began to panic. "K-Kish, do you know what that thing is?" I managed to spare a quick glance at him.

He was just sitting there on his back, looking up at the lizard thing as it grew closer. He was so focused on it that he didn't hear me as I called his name over and over, trying to get his attention. Not once did his eye flick in my direction, though. I could feel tears start pooling in my eyes as my fear hit a maximum height, causing me to scream at him to look at me. That was probably a bad idea, since the monster didn't appear deaf.

As I was struggling to make Kish look at me, I gained the unwanted attention of the lizard-thing. I didn't pay it any attention as its head swiveled in our direction. With all the people either cowering in the snowbanks or already headed for the hills long ago, we were the only two on the ice, and with Kish just staring and me in hysterics, I became the center of attention for the beast.

It slithered across the ice slowly, making this odd clacking sound with its teeth. They were as sharp as knives when it opened its mouth in a predatory hiss. I started pulling on Kish's arm, trying to drag him across the ice with me in an attempt to escape, but it was already too late. The monster was maybe ten yards away from the two of us, clicking its teeth again, when a sudden flash of light stopped it in its path. The ice before it cracked, threatening to break. It came to a shuddering stop, shaking its body around to try and find where the attack had come from.

"Lily!"

Looking up, I saw five figures fly over us. They caught the light that filtered through the clouds, and I found that I was looking at the backs of Tokyo Mew Mew as they individually landed on the destroyed ice around us. Right in front of us landed a girl in pink, the one with cat ears and a tail. The bell wrapped to her tail with a red ribbon gave a small tinkling sound as it flicked back and forth, and I watched as she crouched down to my eye level. "Are you all right, Lily?" she asked me.

I stared at her with wide eyes. Clinging to Kish's arm I stuttered, "H-how do you know my name?"

She grew silent, clenching her hand into a fist. Her attention was pulled back to the monster when it gave a loud howl, smashing its tail near one of the Mew Mews. The girl jumped away just in time, landing gracefully on a snowdrift a few yards away. Her tail swept back and forth and her ears twitched when the lizard howled again. I watched as she flung what looked like a whip at it, yelling something, but I couldn't hear it over the wind that suddenly blew. The lizard bucked backwards against the whip's stinging slash, falling on its back. Its limbs flailed in different directions, rocking back and forth like an upended turtle.

"_Ribbon Mint Echo!_"

"_Ribbon Lettuce Rush!_"

I buried my face into Kish's shoulder. He finally showed some animation by wrapping an arm protectively around me, sheilding me from any ice that clattered our way. Looking through where my hair fell across my eyes, I could see two other members attacking the lizard's underbelling. Hissing, it managed to roll onto its side, lashing at them with its tail in defense. The girls attacked again, light flashing from both of them. I hid my face again, wishing I was somewhere else.

"Lily, we need you."

Tears froze on my face as I looked up at the girl in pink again. I had no idea what she was talking about. How could I help them? What could I even _do_ in a situation like this? Then I remembered. The cafe, the girls, Ichigo and Mint and Lettuce. I sniffed until my crying slowed, wiping at my eyes with my coat sleeve. Looking up at the girl, I caught similarities between her and Ichigo: the hair length, the shape of her eyes, the way she was looking at me.

"O-okay." I was caught between what to do with Kish there. He knew everything about me, but I wasn't sure this was something I could share with him. The lizard helped me with that by managing to get past the Mew Mews, howling with rage as it whipped its long tail in our direction.

"Look out!" Ichigo jumped out of the way, but not without attempting to take us with her. But her hands slipped on our coats, leaving me and Kish to the monster's wrath. Its tail slammed into us, sending me flying into the snow, Kish landing further beyond in the drift. People who had been hiding in the snowbanks finally ran, screaming in terror as the lizard crawled in my direction. I blinked any snow that had landed in my eyes away, scrambling in the fluffy ice to try and escape. But it was too late.

It lunged in my direction, and I screamed at the top of my lungs. I raised my arms in a futile attempt at protection, but it wasn't necessary. Around me, I could feel that warmth again, snaking through my body like an adreneline rush gone wild. A bright light covered my skin, and I clawed at my clothes, my arms, stammering, "No, not again," then wailing in fear when it took over.

The monster clattered to a halt, startled at the sounds of my screaming. The light bubbled around me, pushing the lizard even further back across the ice. The Mew Mews watched as the snow blasted away from me, just the energy pulsing around me digging into the ice and creating a crater several centimeters into the ice. My screams petered off as the warmth began to fade, and I stood on the crushed ice on wobbly feet. I swayed slightly, staggering even. Looking down, I saw I was wearing that strange outfit again. My hair dropped in front of my face, so I went to push it behind my ear, but it just fell back again. I used both hands to press it back, my finger tips brushing something sticking out from my hair.

"Wh-what is this?" I stumbled backward in my confusion, almost tripping over snow that melted when my boot touched it. I grabbed at whatever was on my head, yelping slightly when pain flashed across my scalp. _This can't be happening._ Looking at my fingerless gloves, I flexed my hands, feeling irritation at the entire situation. I didn't know what I was doing, but something just kept spinning through my head, like I was supposed to say it. I clenched my eyes shut, whispering it for fear of being crazy. "H . . . Healing Wish?"

A light flashed in front of me, stretching to the size of a short pole. I was hesitant to touch it, but when I did the light disappeared, leaving behind a rod of some sort. It had a white heart with a cross etched on it on one end and a shinging red orb on the other. I almost dropped it, making it fumble between my fingers in my haste to catch it. Holding it with a solid grasp now, I looked up nervously to survey my surroundings. The lizard was struggling to sit up, while the Mew Mews surrounded it. It almost looked like they were about to beat it, but then it gave an angry roar, managing to roll itself over.

"W-watch out!" I called as the lizard whipped its tail at the Mew Mews. They all jumped out of the way, but it still took out two of them out. They went flying across the broken ice, landing somewhere in the snowbanks. I scrambled away from my melted pile of slush toward where I'd seen them fall. It was tough going climbing over the snow in my ankle boots. "Hey! H-hey, where are you guys?"

I pushed aside pile after pile of snow in my search for them, and I was soon rewarded with the sight of a spot of bright green hair. I had a flash of talking in the upstairs hallway at Cafe Mew Mew with Lettuce, the thought of it possibly being her making me stumble even faster toward her. "Lettuce! Lettuce!" I yelled in my haste, tripping over my own feet. I dropped the rod I had called Healing Wish in the snow, the whiteness of the drift camouflaging it somewhere a few feet away. I didn't really care then, I just scrambled over to Lettuce as fast as my hands and knees could take me.

She was buried under a thin layer of snow, scratches and slight tears in her clothes around her shoulders. Her eyes weren't open but she was breathing, I could see it coming out as puffs of frozen air. I reached forward, tugging at the band on her arm in an attempt to see if she could hear me as I called, "Lettuce? Lettuce, can you hear me?" I wasn't able to rouse her, so I tried harder, gripping her arm tightly and shaking her. I felt like crying again, I didn't understand anything at the moment. They'd explained so little about what had happened the day before. Maybe I should have just gone with Ichigo instead of running away like a coward.

During all my inner turmoil, I failed to notice the lizard as it crawled its way toward me and Lettuce. The other Mew Mews kept fighting, but their attacks just bounced back at them if my ears were hearing correctly. Everything else was silent, not even the wind disturbing any snow that surrounded the two of us. I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyelids in an attempt to drive away the need to cry, gritting my teeth against the panic rising within me.

"Lily . . .?"

Opening my eyes, I looked down and saw that Lettuce's eyes were fluttering open. She appeared confused at first, but when her sight fell upon me it became more focused. "Lettuce!" I cried in relief when I saw that she was all right. "Come on, we need to get you out of here before -"

She cut me off, with a "Look out!" and pushed me out of the way. "_Ribbon Lettuce Rush!_"

A bright light flashed behind me as I fell back into the snow. Protecting my eyes against it, I watched as Lettuce pushed back the lizard as it hovered over us. She was holding what I guessed were castanets, their power holding the monster at bay above us. It roared in anger, thrashing against the protective shield she had formed around us. The strength of it almost seemed like it was going to hold, and I was about to try and crawl away with Lettuce, but then there was a loud _crack_. "L-Lettuce, I don't think it's going to -"

Before I could finish the shield broke completely. The lizard crashed down into the drift, sending snow and the two of us flying. It stood on solid ground now, flicking its tongue in and out to smell for us, turning its head from side to side to better its sense. I was covered in snow again, buried heavily under a large pile of the slush. I could feel the ground shake as the lizard slithered in my direction after catching my scent on the wind. I pushed the slush off as fast as I could manage, only my legs left to go when a reptilian foot slammed next to me. I froze immediately, shaking in terror as I looked directly up at its scaly face. Its red-rimmed eyes may have been blank, but it knew it had me trapped.

_Th-this is it_, I thought fearfully. _I'm finally going to die._

I squeezed my eyes shut as the lizard flicked its tongue out again, reaching down and dragging across my face. I wanted to run so badly, but I felt frozen beneath the crushed ice that covered me, holding me in place. The lizard opened its mouth, probably to take a bite out of me, and was about to chow down when a shout above us stopped it.

"Tokage! Leave her alone!" The lizard lifted its head in the direction of the voice. I chanced opening one eye to look around it, toward the sky where the shout had come from.

Hovering in the air I saw a boy. He had green hair and long ears, glaring death at the monster as it lifted the leg next to me and turned in his direction. It was almost like he was controlling it, following his every move as he slowly drifted down. He landed in the snow not too far from where I was covered, not looking in my direction once as he said, "Touch her and I'll fry you for dinner."

This seemed to strike fear into the lizard, since it backed down completely, its head lowered in subordination to him. I watched absently as it made its way over the ice back toward the hole it crawled out of, leaving the three remaining Mew Mews who had been fighting still as confused as me. It flopped over the broken surface into the lake, splashing icy water as it dove down. Only then did the boy look in my direction. His gaze was cold as his eyes roved over my buried form. Fear, surprise, confusion swam through me, I wasn't even sure what emotion was really running my head at the moment. But when he started walking in my direction, I knew I had to get out of there, and fast.

I clawed at the snow, ignoring the icy sting it sent through my fingers as I tried to push it away before he managed to get any closer to me, but by the time I'd freed my feet he was already standing over me. I sputtered incoherently as I scrabbled backwards away from him, shrieking in fear when he reached out. When his hand gripped my arm I scratched at him with my free hand, struggling as he pulled me to my feet. "L-let me go!"

He grabbed a bunch of my hair, making me yelp in surprise and ultimately stilling my struggles. He looked me dead in the eye, his so cold they rivaled the snow. It even began to fall, flakes landing softly on my skin and immediately melting at just the touch. They swirled around us, almost seeming to cut us off from the Mew Mews as they started to run in our direction. The boy, who I guessed now was an alien, didn't even look at them as he held a hand out, palm facing them. I watched as a sort of energy ball gathered in his hand, then shot toward the girls. It blasted them back, two flying into the snow and one landing so close to the hole in the ice I thought she was going to slide in. I wasn't sure who it was exactly, I only saw long hair splayed around her as she lay still. I was tempted to try and run to her aid, any one of theirs really, but the alien's grip on my hair tightened.

I tried scratching at his arm, determined to at least make an attempt at getting him to let go, but he pulled my face closer to his and stared straight at me as he said, "Shut up and listen." I hadn't really said much since he'd taken a bunch of my hair hostage, but I figured it wasn't the time to point that out. So I just decided to put on a brave face and glare back at him, even though I was shaking uncontrollably on the inside. "Stay away from the other Mew Mews. The only thing that will get you is hurt."

I bit back a retort that jumped to my tongue, swallowing it to instead say, "Wh-what do you mean?" I couldn't keep the tremor out of my voice. The fact that I was scared and putting up a front was one reason, the biting cold the other. "I know that you're trying to take over Earth. I'll help them stop you."

That probably wasn't the best thing to say, but at the moment I didn't care. I didn't know if my fear of the alien boy was making me speak my mind or I was just suicidal. But he seemed to almost disregard my words completely, instead continuing as if I hadn't said anything at all. "Stay with the Mews and we'll have to fight. You won't want that."

In a moment of either sheer panic or just cold bravery at his words, I took a chance and lashed out, catching his cheek with my nails. Startled, he released my hair, allowing me enough time to skitter backward away from him and catch a shaky breath. "What do you care?" I spat at him.

He rubbed a thumb thoughtfully over the scratch marks I'd left, almost exactly where mine had been cut by Taruto the day before. My hand itched to touch the mark on my own face, but I clenched my hand to push away the feeling.

"You wouldn't understand."

I wasn't even sure I'd heard him correctly, his voice had been so soft. But before I could demand he repeat what he'd said, he looked at me one more time, then disappeared. I blinked, staring at the spot where he'd just been. How had he done that?

I took a step back, my foot catching a slippery pile of snow that sent me sprawling on my rear. I clutched at the snow with my bare fingers, flinching against the wind that bit at my face. As it died down, I could hear the voices of the Mew Mews as they called around to each other. I kept my eyes on the snow as it piled around my boots, the girls' worries in the back of my mind for the moment.

Sitting there as the Mew Mews yelled around the broken lake, I started thinking. Before the Mew Mews had shown up I'd been having a good time with my friend. Then that lizard showed up and that alien with features that sort of reminded me of -

My head snapped up. _Kish_. I'd been so preoccupied with the monster that I hadn't been able to search for him the whole time. Scrambling my way out of the snow heaped around me, I stumbled over drifts as I changed back to normal, which might not have been a good idea since all I had to protect my feet were my multiple layers of wooly socks. "Kish!" I called as I staggered through the piles of snow around me. I pushed on even as my hair fell from my ponytail, tumbling around my face and obscurring my vision. "Kish, where I you?"

After pushing my hair back and tumbling down a slightly large pile of snow, I managed to catch sight of green hair against the trampled snow. I rushed in that direction, pushing aside hand full after hand full of snow in my effort to reach him. "Kish!" Making it to the spot where I'd seen his hair after what seemed like miles of snow, I dropped to my knees and began to unearth him from the snow that covered him almost entirely. Beneath the dense layer he lay beneath, I could see his pale face had become an almost deathly white, nearly the same color as the snow itself. He had some scratches on his face, but for the moment I over looked them as I grabbed his coat sleeve. "Kish, wake up. C'mon, you can't sleep now, we have to get you somewhere warm." I didn't even know where we could go.

Behind me I heard the crunch of multiple footsteps racing in our direction. Pulling Kish closer, I felt how cold his skin was to the touch, and as I unzipped my coat and attempted to wrap it around him, I felt them stop behind me. I held him close as I tried to warm him. I could hear the girls murmuring amongst each other, but I kept my hearing tuned out as I held Kish's hands between mine. They were slightly larger, so it a little difficult to hold them with both, but I tried. "Kish, come on, wake up. Please." Then I felt a twitch.

Startled, I almost dropped him from the confines of my coat, but I managed to grab his own in time. I reached over and pushed his hair back from his face, feeling sweat beginning to bead along his forehead from the heat in my coat. I took this as a good sign, so I opened my coat enough to allow the wind to blow across his face, ruffling his hair and drying the sweat. Slowly, his eyes started to open, then he pushed away enough to sit up. I hovered beside him, ready to help if he needed it, but he seemed fine, even shooting me a look that warned me to back off. So I did, clasping my hands and holding them against my lips to show that I'd give him his space. He unzipped his coat, pulling it off and tossing it into the snow. He tugged on the neck of his sweater to make it looser, and I sat by as he seemed to feel better.

"Kish." His eyes glanced up at me. "Are you okay?"

For a moment I thought he wasn't going to answer me. He just sat there silently pushing hair out of his face and looking at the destroyed snow around us. it looked like he may have been in shock from the monster's attack, but I wouldn't know anything unless he told me. After what seemed hours, he finally looked my way again, but his eyes were warmer this time as he showed me that cocky grin of his, reaching out to tug on a lock of my loose hair. "What happened to you hairbow, Lily?"

His question was so Kish-like, unusual for the situation but so normal for him, that I teared up a bit. I sniffed to try and keep the tears away because I'd cried enough that afternoon, and I really didn't want to cry again any time soon. But as I rubbed my eyes in an attempt to get rid of them, a hiccup escaped my lips. Behind me the girls grew quiet. Around my small sobs I heard the crunch of snow on either side of me, and I looked up when I felt hands on my shoulder. Through my tears I could see the blurred shapes of Ichigo's and Lettuce's normal hair colors. In an attempt to sober myself I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. It steadied me enough that I could wipe away any stray tears that had fallen, allowing me to see everything clearly again.

I looked at the girls on either side of me, then over my shoulder at the others. I could see Mint standing beside the tallest of them, the one named Zakuro. She had a hand on Zakuro's arm as the older girl carried the youngest Mew Mew on her back. Pudding looked exhausted, her face buried in Zakuro's hair as she let out shallow breaths. She appeared to be the one who had been lost in the snow during my face-to-face encounter with the lizard. I hoped she was okay.

I pulled my eyes away from the bruises I could see forming along her arms. It was hard enough to think directly about the monster, so in an attempt to dismiss any thoughts of it, I turned my attention to the scratches I'd seen on Kish's face earlier. Tentatively, I reached a hand out and touched his cheek lightly with my fingertips. He flinched slightly when my fingers came into contact with the open wounds, even grabbing my hand to keep it away. I frown slightly. "Kish, how'd you get those scratches?"

He didn't say anything, just squeezed my fingers lightly and dropped my hand. With a slightly irritated huff, I sat silently and watched as he ran a thumb over the scratches. Seeing him do this, I had a flash of the alien boy doing the exact same thing earlier as he'd studied me with his cold eyes. Golden eyes like Kish's. The similarities between them were confusing me. I mean, Kish, my best friend Kish, wasn't - couldn't be - an alien. How could that even be possible?

Before he or anyone could stop me, I reached out with both of my hands, tugging aside Kish's hair to display his ears for my eyes to see. He yelped in surprise and possibly pain as I twisted his head back and forth. I had always wondered why he kept it so shaggy, and now my thoughts started wandering toward other ideas. But after making his head swivel back and forth against his neck's will, I'd found nothing that confirmed my suspicions. So I released him.

"Ow, Lily." Kish rubbed his sore scalp. "What was that for?"

I didn't think I'd pulled his hair hard enough to really harm him, only irritate him slightly. Maybe even a little mad. "Uh, nothing?" Hoping to distract them all I widened my eyes in feigned surprise, pointing over her shoulder and shouting, "Oh my gosh, it's back!"

Miraculously, everybody fell for it, even the girls who stood behind me and could clearly tell I was lying. But even so, I took this chance to wad some snow together, quickly smashing it into a loose, sloppy snowball, but a snowball nonetheless.

"Lily, there's nothing - "

I smashed the snowball into Kish's face, cutting him off quickly. We all sat in silence as the snow slowly fell in squishy pieces, waiting for a reaction. I bit the inside of my cheek, hoping he wouldn't get _too_ mad at me. Then I saw him narrow his eyes and reach for some snow beside him, and I took that as my cue to scramble up and run away shrieking. I didn't make it very far though, tripping in my socks and falling on my face. My toes twitched as I lifted my face from the drift I'd tumbled into, blowing a puff of air in a weak attempt to get my hair out of my face.

_I'd really like my shoes back, darn it_, I thought as I heard laughter behind me, the tension finally broken by my antics. I smiled against the coldness pressing on my face, just enjoying the fact that we weren't scared for the moment. But since I had to face life again, I rolled over onto my back, pushed myself to my feet, and proceeded to slip on the snow and fall back on my butt again. _Darn it!_

* * *

**A/N**: asdfjkl UUUGGGGHHH. My head hurts. I'm trying to post chapters and deviations on deviantArt at the same time and my head just wants to split right now. Oh well. Back to deviantArt!


	4. The Working Life

**A/N**: Ah, gomen, gomen. I had a little trouble with this one, and I've been preoccupied with watching anime. I got around to watching Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood a few days ago. I watched maybe twelve episodes in one day, so I figured I was already hooked ^^; I've forgotten how much I liked the first anime that I'd never given the second one (or any of the movies) a chance until recently. It was mostly a drawing on deviantArt that spurred me to watch it in the first place lol

I forgot the disclaimer last chapter.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of this fanfic except any OCs and the plot line itself**

* * *

"I want to see where you work."

I looked over my shoulder, thinking I'd misheard Kish. "Huh?"

It had been a few weeks since the lizard's attack. Since then, I'd been briefed over the aliens' intentions for Earth. They told me what being a Mew Mew was about, and that the monster that had attacked us at the ice rink was called a Kirema Anima, an animal forced to fuse with a little alien. Ichigo and the girls had even mentioned the names of the three aliens who were attacking Earth.

I hadn't known what to do with all the information, so when I'd gotten home, I'd just told my mom that I was heading to bed early. With Star curled against my stomach, I'd fallen asleep pretty quickly. The next day I'd had to report to Cafe Mew Mew after school for my first day on the job. But now, I stopped where I stood on the low wall that surrounded the park we were walking around.

"I want to see where you work," he repeated. Apparently, my ears were working just dandy.

I began to wring my hands in slight anxiety since they held nothing, my bag being carried over Kish's shoulder again. I was debating in my head whether I should take him to Cafe Mew Mew, especially with how testy Ryou had been the past few days. I had no idea what he'd say, even though there wasn't much he could do about it since Kish would be a customer. On the other hand, it would be nice for there to be another familiar face besides Ichigo and the girls. I mean, everyone was really nice and all, but I liked having Kish around to talk with if I needed some advice. So I gave him a nod, hopping off the wall and landing next to him. "All right. When do you want to see it?"

He slung an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer. Resting his head on top of my hair he said, "Is now good? I've got some free time to spare."

"Sure." I pushed a loose lock of hair from my face, glancing at him through my bangs. Recently, I'd noticed that Kish had been acting a little . . . odd lately. He was being, ah, more affectionate than he usually would be, like the arm around my shoulders, playing with my hair, even a kiss on the head sometimes. It was really strange, not that I minded though. I mean, Kish was a good friend, so maybe this was something normal between male and female best friends? I'd never really know unless I asked somebody else for their opinion.

For the moment I pushed the thoughts away, instead focusing on where my feet landed on the sidewalk. I'd wobbled slightly for a moment from a small dizzy spell that shot through me, but Kish's arm steadied me immediately, so I didn't really have to worry. I'd been getting these dizzy spells more recently. They were so frequent that I had asked Ryou if there was any special reason for them. He'd told me that with the way I'd become a Mew Mew, some of the DNA might not have connected as well as with the other girls. Since I wasn't a part of the original Mew Project, the way I'd been "created" was somewhat different. Just so I could understand even a little more of what he'd planned for me, I'd had a little sit down with him in the back in the kitchen.

It was after my shift at the café, and I was about to go home when I saw Ryou coming in through the front doors. All day I'd been wondering about the Kirema Anima from the ice rink, and any other small ones we'd come across during the past weeks. I figured it was a good time as any to actually ask questions, so I managed to catch Ryou's attention.

"Ryou, can I talk to you about something, please?"

We went into the kitchen and stood on either side of the island, him leaning against the counter and me sitting in a chair I had pulled in from the floor.

"What do you want to talk about?"

I fidgeted in my seat, rubbing my thumb along the edge of the counter. I'd had all my questions thought through and ready to go, but at Ryou's words my mind went blank. Furrowing my brow, I tried to pull at least one from the back of my mind. "Um, okay. Let me start with an easy one." I sat up straighter and held my hands in my lap. "Why did I become a Mew Mew?"

He was silent for a moment, appearing to actually contemplate my questions. Then he opened his mouth and my small appreciation for the moment was gone. "It was a complete accident," he said with a somewhat sheepish grin.

My jaw almost hit the kitchen island. An accident? I was an _accident_? My thought process ran even more awry then as I stared at him. He seemed so nonchalant as he leaned easily against the counter, not even seeming to care how shocked I probably looked. "An _accident_?" I croaked. I cleared my throat and tried again. "What do you mean an accident?"

"Just that. The DNA that we were using was for tracking aliens, and if they were successful they would leave a visible mark. It was still in the processing stage and a little unstable, but I thought we'd give it a try. Trial and error, you know?" He shrugged.

I couldn't believe it. This was startling news to me, but he apparently wasn't finished.

"Do you remember the small storm that day?"

It was hard to forget. Kish had been acting weird and I'd felt confused about everything. But that storm was something that pretty much knocked me straight, probably more so after I'd woken up from being unconscious for so long. "Yeah, what of it?"

He settled back against the rim of the sink, crossing his arms. "Well, that was a disturbance caused by the ejection of this prototype tracker. It wasn't exactly in my calculations, but it seemed like the weather didn't affect the experiment too much."

I raised a critical eyebrow. "So what does that mean?"

"Basically, the shot of DNA we'd used was on target, it would have even been a direct hit more than likely. But something happened. See, I'm thinking that since it's still in the processing stages its honing skills were still a little off balanced, hence why it might have locked on to you instead. Have you found any odd markings on you lately?"

Over the past few weeks I hadn't been paying much attention to the changes of my body, but I would have known if there'd been some strange mark on me. So I just shook my head silently.

"Is that so." He scratched at his chin as he pushed away from the counter and came to my side of the island. He walked behind me slowly, scanning me with his eyes. "Where did you say you saw the tracker?"

Rolling my eyes now at his questions I said, "I never did because nobody asked. But, if you must know, it was flying behind me as the wind pushed me down the street. That's where I landed in the snow drift you guys found me in." Chewing lightly on the inside of my cheek, my words brought a new thought to mind. Kish had been there when I'd literally been blown away by the wind and snow. Why hadn't he pulled me from the drift?

I was so busy with my musings that I didn't notice Ryou as he circled behind me once more to examine me. Then he lifted the skirt of my uniform while he mumbled something under his breath. I came to attention when I felt my clothes moving, so I turned around and snatched the hem of my skirt away from his grubby hands. My face flamed, I was nearly spitting with rage. "Hey! Paws off, Jack!"

But he just gave me this withering look. "I'm not trying to look up your dress, nimrod. Mint told me that your mark was on your back, I'm only trying to figure out where on your back it is since she didn't exactly tell me _where_."

"That doesn't mean you can go lifting my clothes as you please! I am a girl and I don't like to be treated with disrespect like that."

But he just rolled his eyes, this scowl on his face like I was just wasting his time. Maybe I was, but for the moment I didn't care very much. "Look, I'm not trying to look up your skirt like some perv, this is for actual documentation of our progress -"

"I don't care! Back up I said. You're already in my personal bubble, scoot back a few feet would you."

"You're as difficult a Ichigo sometimes, I swear."

I gritted my teeth at the annoyance that was steadily building up inside of me. When he made a move for the hem again, I lifted my foot and pressed it flat against his chest. Keeping a hold on my skirt to keep it down the best I could, I pushed Ryou back with enough force to make him stumble a little. Seeing him a little unsteady brought some gratitude to my thoughts, but not enough to stop hating him for the moment. "Listen here. I don't know what kind of privileges you might have around here, and I know you're the boss and all, but if this is how you act with your employees then count me out. I don't want to deal with guys like you, whether it's for experiments or not. Now _back_ o_ff_ I said."

He either saw the fire in my eyes or ultimately understood what I was saying, because he took a couple of steps back, holding his hands up in defeat. "All right, all right. I can't force you to anything. Not that I was going to in the first place." I shot him an evil look, but continued as if he hadn't seen it. "Just let me know if you find anything that looks out of place, all right?"

I huffed, "Like what? The mark you were talking about earlier?"

He nodded. "Yeah, a mark of some sort. If anything, it should have to do with either the animal gene that's attached itself to your DNA or your chosen weapon."

"Chosen weapon?"

He gave an exaggerated sigh, pushing a hand through his hair. "I might as well explain this now. Your weapon could be of any sort. Such as Mint's. You saw what she fought with when she saved you that time, right?"

I thought back to when the alien Taruto had pulled me out of the upstairs window. I'd had a small fight - if that's what you could call it - before Mint had shown up and rescued me. As I recalled this memory, the sight of Mint's bow growing in size stuck in my thoughts. "Yeah, it was some kind of magical bow and arrow. But she didn't have a quiver for the arrows, and that bow sure wasn't intimidating until she pulled the string."

"That's it exactly. See, the weapon isn't so much a tool of choice, but a mass of energy created from your transformed selves that chooses what form to take on."

I held up a hand to pause him. "So what you're saying is, is that we don't choose our weapons. Our weapons choose us based on our energy?"

He nodded. "Exactly that. Your bodies give off a certain frequency that controls the form that the weapon takes on. For example: Mint uses a bow and arrow. Masters of this are agile and focused when the bow is in use. They have to be for the outcome of where on the target they land to be a good shot. Since Mint is a dancer, she's already so focused on how her feet land, making sure it's just right enough that she doesn't sprain something so she can keep performing."

"What about the rest of the girls? What kind of energy do they give off for their weapons?"

"Let's use Pudding as an example this time. She's a performer, and from what research we completed on her before the experiment originally started, she was already able to do incredible things. Her weapons are rings, not something unlike what a dangerous hula hoop would be like."

I found this slightly humorous, but I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth to hide my smile as he continued.

"Since she was a performer, she knows exactly what she's doing with her rings. She probably treats them as if they were a part of one of her acts. Or it could be the DNA of the golden lion tamarin inside of her that makes her a little more crazy."

Now a little chuckle escaped from me. From what little I'd seen of the two girls, he was right. I'd notice how graceful - yet almost lazy - Mint was, and Pudding was almost the opposite. She made everything an act, _especially_ when she was serving. I don't know how many times that day that I'd had to jump out of the way of her rolling ball. I'd nearly lost more than one tray every time she rolled by. I had been so tempted to just stick a foot out and see what happened, but I knew she might have gotten hurt, so I kept my feet in line as much as I could manage.

"So." Ryou's voice brought me back to attention. "Have you been able to find out what your weapon of choice is yet?"

I wasn't sure if his question was a sarcastic remark or if he was really curious. So keeping my guard up still, I pressed the folds of my uniform down correctly to make sure he got the hint. I pulled off my headpiece, holding it in my hands as I thought back to the fight between us - well, more the girls than myself - and the lizard Kirema Anima. Tokage, that's what the alien boy - _Kisshu_ - had called it. I ran through my short memory of the fight, spinning past the actual skating Kish and I had done and more toward when the alien had attacked. I barely remembered what had happened, but I was sure I had called a weapon. "How would I know if I'd formed a weapon?"

"Words would have come to your head. It's something only the girls could explain to you, since I've never gone through it myself."

I gave him a mirthless glance. "Obviously."

He raised an eyebrow at me, possibly picking up on any animosity I had let leak into my voice. "Do you have a problem or something?"

"My main problem of the moment was you trying to look up my skirt. I'm not going to let go of that so easily, you know."

Running a hand through his hair in a slightly frustrated motion, he gave me a withering glance. Obviously, he wasn't often treated with my kind of attitude. I hoped he wasn't the type of pretty boy who thought every girl was going to fall at his feet for his "charming good looks." "Look, I told you that I wasn't trying anything. Mint got me curious, but she refused to tell me where it is exactly. I've told you this."

I glared at him. "Yes, yes, I heard you before. But yes, I heard the words come to my head, during the middle of the fight. I was in a state of panic and I didn't know what to do. I'd only transformed because the Kirema Anima had jumped at me, then this sort of, of energy just blasted out of me. It kept the Anima away long enough for me to realize that I'd transformed at all."

Ignoring my tone in the beginning, he listened as I explained to him more of what happened at the ice rink. Amazingly he didn't interrupt me once, the only sound and movement coming from him a small grunt and nod here or there. I described what the Kirema Anima looked like, how its legs were hinged in not only one place but two, and how grotesque the mane at its neck elbows looked. I shuddered at how vivid I was able to remember each detail, especially since I'd gotten a knock to the head more than once that day.

Once I'd finished, I took a deep breath. I rubbed at my throat lightly, biting at my cheek slightly as I watched for his reaction to everything I'd just told him. He seemed contemplative and I could tell that the gears in his brain were turning. Soon he stood, walking over to look above the kitchen doors to the café floor. We were probably the only ones left in the building, the girls already changed and gone, headed for home. I'd have to get a move on myself soon or else I wasn't going to make it home before dark.

"Hey, Ryou?" He looked over his shoulder at me. "I should head home, my mom's probably going to worry why I'm late getting back."

For a moment I thought he'd misunderstood me, but then he nodded his head saying, "You're right. Sorry for keeping you here so long for a talk you probably didn't expect to drag on." His eyes moved to the clock set above the doorway.

I nodded, reaching behind me to tug on the bow of my apron. I was heading toward the locker room on the other side of the kitchen so I could change. I was so ready to go home, and I was so tired that my fingers slipped on the buttons of the uniform. By the time I'd reappeared, I was still wrapping my scarf around my neck. I stopped in front of Ryou. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

He nodded, opening one of the swinging doors to let me through. "Tomorrow's only a half day, don't forget that. We don't make you work very long on Sundays."

"That's the main thing my mom likes about this job." I pulled my hat down over my hair as he walked me to the door. "She wasn't too keen on me taking this job, but I managed to convince her."

"That's good . . . I guess."

I looked up at him under the bill of my hat. He was somewhat frowning, almost looking frustrated for some reason. "You know, my mom's main reason for not liking me working is because she wants me to focus on school work and activities. She'd like for me to get into a good university after high school since she never got the chance." My feet came to a stop at the front doors. Looking up at him again I said, "I can see where my mom is coming from. I'm only fourteen yet I'm working in a café that caters mostly to the female population; it's also run by two young guys."

He reached behind his head, ruffling the back of his hair. "Yeah, I know what you mean. But don't worry about that."

I scoffed as I opened one of the heavy doors. "We'll see." Then I headed home without a second thought.

* * *

"Well, this is it."

I pushed open the front doors of Cafe Mew Mew. It was still a little while till we opened, and I watched as the girls were lifting the chairs off the tables and righting them on their legs. While we were weaving our way through the tables I kept my eyes forward, but I could tell in my peripheral vision that heads turned our way. Choosing at random, I set a chair down for Kish, brushing his hand away when he tried to help. I told him he was my guest and that I wouldn't let him lift a finger. He just silently shrugged and plopped down in his chair. Before I headed to the back to change I told him whatever he ordered was on me. "But don't go too crazy," I called over my shoulder. He grinned mischievously.

I'd barely made it through the kitchen's swinging doors before I was ambushed from behind by two of the girls. In front of me stood Pudding and Ichigo, both seeming to have questions in their eyes. They were both talking at the same time, asking me questions that sounded like they involved myself and Kish, but their words kept overlapping each others that I couldn't understand either of them. I looked back and forth between them in a panic. I was about to scream in frustration, but before I could I heard behind me, "You two should learn to chill."

Turning, I saw standing behind the swinging doors was Ryou, his arms crossed as he looked at us. I was about to thank him for silencing them for the moment, then he turned his eyes my way. "Why is there somebody inside already? We don't open for another twenty minutes or so."

At his words I began to bite the inside of my cheek. I hadn't expected him to ask about Kish so soon after we'd arrived. "He's a friend of mine who wanted to see where I worked."

Ichigo, who'd somehow managed to stay silent, piped in with, "He was at the lake that one time, right? Is he your boyfriend?"

My face flamed immediately. I wasn't exactly embarrassed, it was more like the implication that I was dating Kish - not that it sounded horrible, but this was _Kish_ - baffled me. I mean, I liked Kish, I really did - but as boyfriend material?

"I-I don't know what you mean, Ichigo. I mean, Kish is my friend - a close friend - but still. There's nothing wrong with having a male best friend, is there?" I continued to gnaw lightly on my cheek as she seemed to contemplate my question seriously. When I saw that Ryou was about to say something I held up a hand. "As much as I like talking with you guys," I said as I made my way around Pudding, "I'd like to go get changed so I can start helping." Then I disappeared into the locker room without another word. Once the door shut softly behind me, I leaned against it, sliding down to the floor with my hands pressed against my burning face.

_Why do they do this to me?_ I thought.

.

.

.

It wasn't until a few hours later that I noticed something odd. It was still the middle of my shift and I was bringing an order of apple tarts to table five. I'd just set the plates in the middle of the table like Ichigo had taught me. As I turned to say "I hope you enjoy," I completely froze. Sitting in one of the chairs across from a companion was Taruto. I think.

He had the reddish-brown hair that the alien boy had that day I was attacked, but there was something . . . off. His hair was down, which gave him a childish appearance, but it was his ears that caught my eyes. They weren't long like they had been that day. They were normal. I had to scurry away because he started to peer up at me suspiciously with his bronze eyes.

Back in the kitchen, I stood at the kitchen island as Keiichiro was pulling pastries out of the oven. He glanced at me as I was ticking things off on my fingers as I listed characteristics in my head.

"Miss Lily?"

I glanced up mid-tick. "Yes, Keiichiro?"

"Um, may I ask what you are doing?"

I'd forgotten that I was supposed to be working, not trying to figure out whether one of my customers was an alien or not. I stumbled to make an excuse, but I didn't have to embarrass myself as much as I probably would have if Lettuce hadn't walked through the doors with an order. "L-Lettuce! Can you come look at something with me please?"

I almost dragged her back through the swinging doors on to the floor. I pulled her over to an unused section of the café, keeping my voice low as I said, "Do you see the boy over there near the doors, the one sitting across from the other boy with dark-ish hair? He's got reddish-brown hair that reaches to about his shoulders." I watched her as her eyes followed to where I was looking. I knew the moment she saw him, and she nodded for me to continue. "Doesn't he look an _awful lot_ like the young alien boy Taruto? I mean, besides the fact that his hair is down and his ears look normal."

Her head tilted slightly to the side as she thought over the information I was feeding her. "Yes, he does look a lot like Taruto. But what would an alien be doing sitting in a human café so . . . normally?"

Shaking my head, I tried to keep my eyes from wandering toward the boy as I looked at Lettuce. "I don't know. Do you think I should tell Ryou and Keiichiro about this?"

Frowning slightly she looked at me, the overhead lights glinting off the lenses of her glasses. "I'm not sure. I'll let Ichigo know about this. We should see what the girls think about this before we tell them. Ryou just might shoot our suspicions down immediately."

"No kidding," I snorted. "He's shot down any ideas I've had so far."

The sound of shattering glass reached our ears. Glancing back to the floor we saw that the topic of our discussion had accidentally pushed his glass of water off the table. Sighing, I stepped back toward the kitchen, saying over my shoulder, "That's my table. Even though he may be an alien he's still a customer. Ryou would have my hide if he thought I was ignoring one."

Lettuce just smiled as she followed behind me.

While I cleaned the floor of water and glass, I peeked under the table to check on Kish. My heart plummeted when I saw that he wasn't alone. I could see at least two or three girls sitting and chatting with him as he nibbled on a brownie I'd brought him earlier. He didn't appear to be bothered by the company. In fact, he was smiling and even laughing at something one of the girls had said. It seemed that I was the only who was fazed at the fact that Kish was more popular than what I would have thought. I chewed lightly at my cheek, as was a habit of mine, as I moved the cloth around the base of the table. I'd picked up the larger pieces of glass with gloved hands, the rest I was wiping together with a spare wash rag.

I was debating conspiracy theories in my head, like if the only reason the glass had toppled off the table had been because the boy had wanted me over here to analyze me. Or maybe he was really just a little snot who thought it was funny to break tableware. I frowned slightly as I tried to push the nasty thoughts away as I folded the rag covered with tiny pieces of glass between my hands. I was about to stand back up, my mouth ready to say an apology for taking so long to clean up a small spill, when I stopped and stared in horror.

Over at Kish's table one of the girls had sidled close to him, a hand on his shoulder as she leaned close. He didn't seem too worried about it. It was almost like he _enjoyed_ the girl being in such close proximity with him. I knew the café catered to both male - but mostly - female customers. But the thought that those girls didn't have some other guys to pick up just plain bothered me to no end. It didn't help when he happened to look my way.

With my face burning in shame, I shut my mouth with an audible _clack_ as my teeth clicked together. I sat back too fast, bonking my head on the underside of the table. I heard the salt and pepper shakers settle as I held the tender spot near my crown. Tears of pain and embarrassment formed at my eyes as I made my way properly from under the table. I apologized to the boy and his friend, keeping my eyes down when I wished them a good afternoon. Then I turned and hurried back to the kitchen to get rid of the gloves and wash rag.

Keiichiro had his back turned, so I took this opportunity to lay the gloves on the island and toss the rag into the trash can, then slip quietly behind the door. I pressed the back of my hand to my mouth, keeping my lips tightly together to prevent a sob as I rounded the lockers in the middle of the floor. Once behind them and out of view of the door, I collapsed to my knees, my tears brimming over and spilling down my cheeks. I leaned against one of the lockers, sitting on my heels as I tried to make sense of my situation. Why had the sight of Kish and that girl bothered me as much as it did? Why was I hiding in the locker room? Better yet, why was I _crying_ in the locker room?

I couldn't make heads or tail of what was really happening at the time, so for the moment I buried my face in the softness of my apron. It muffled my cries as I let them loose, my voice cracking as I wailed my pain. I may not have been entirely sure of the reason I was crying, but dang it, I was already hiding away and I was pretty sure my eyes already looked red and puffy. I paused only because I heard the locker room door creak open. I held a hand over my nose to quiet my sniffling, peering around the line of lockers warily to see who'd interrupted - though not ungratefully - my crying.

Peeking her head through the doorway was none other than Ichigo. She was looking around the locker room, as if she was searching for something. It appeared it was me, since the moment her eyes locked on me she came in and shut the door behind her. She moved slowly toward me, as if I could break even further if she made any sudden movements. I gave her a look of annoyance as she basically tiptoed toward me. "I'm not a wild animal, you know," I said around my hand, then winced when I heard my voice. I sounded so nasal from my crying.

She ignored my comment, crouching next to where I sat on the floor against the locker. Her eyes looked steadily at me as she said, "Are you okay Lily?"

Her voice held genuine concern for me, and the sincere look in her eyes had me glancing away as I grumbled, "Do I look okay?" I looked back at her as she settled next to me on the floor. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

She ran a hand over the skirt of her uniform, folding and unfolding the pleats as she said, "I saw you rush back into the kitchen a few minutes ago. I got worried, but a few people sat at a table of yours. I took care of it for you before I came back here."

Sniffing, I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hand. "Thanks. I totally forgot about my tables. I was just in a hurry to get out of sight." Sitting back I pulled my headband out of my hair. Grimacing at it, I set it between us on the floor.

Clasping her hands around her knees, she leaned her head back against the locker. "It's okay. I know how you're feeling."

I shot a skeptical look her way as I rubbed any stray tears away from the corners of my eyes. "Really?"

She nodded. "Uh-huh. It's because of the friend you brought with you, right? Kish?"

Immediately a blush ran across my face. I pressed my nose back into my apron to hide it. "How'd you know?" I asked, my voice muffled by the fabric of my apron.

I could hear the smile in her voice as she said, "It was kind of obvious." She patted me on the shoulder in consolation as I groaned in embarrassment. I couldn't believe that I hadn't been able to hide my hurt from everybody. I must have been more transparent than what I'd thought. I lifted my eyes so I could see her. "He didn't see me, did he?"

"Who?"

I gave her an almost dark look after I rolled my eyes. "Ryou," I said sarcastically. I was never much in control of my tone when I was upset. "I meant Kish. He didn't see me basically running away, did he?"

After a moment of contemplation she shook her head. Sighing in relief, I sat back against the locker behind me, bonking my head against the metal. The pain seemed to clear my head for the moment, but it also sent a wave of dizziness behind my eyes. The shots to my head those weeks ago apparently hadn't healed as much as I'd hoped. I grimaced when this brought back thoughts of the Tokage and its break through the ice. I pushed it away as I played with the fabric of my apron. "I can't hide in here forever, can I?"

The small smile on her face was my answer. "Afraid not." Pushing against her knees she stood. She brushed the seat of her uniform off, then reached a hand down to me. Sighing I grasped it, allowing her to pull me to my feet. She reached down to the floor to grab my headband. "Can't forget this," she said as she settled it into my hair.

As she helped push my hair out of my face, I watched her. She was playing with my bangs, probably trying to make them stay away from my eyes. She babbled on about something involving how she knew what I was feeling, that she wished she could have a relationship as good as the one I had with Kish. She'd ask me a question between her musings, and I'd answer them with the proper sounds. As she pulled something out of a pocket mysteriously located in her skirt, I closed my eyes and listened to her talk. I felt her push my bangs back with bobby pins, securing most of them above my right eye. Standing there, letting Ichigo play with my hair, reminded me of Calla.

When I was young, I used to always go to my sister with a brush and ask her if she could run it through my hair. I'd peek around the doorway of her room, checking to see if she was ever doing anything. If she wasn't I'd knock on the door jamb to get her attention. When she looked I'd hold up the brush. She'd immediately know what I wanted, motioning for me to come in and sit down. She'd take the brush from me and gather my hair in her lap. It had been a bit longer when I was a kid, almost to my waist. I would sit on the floor by her bed, leaning against the frame as she held my hair in one hand. I'd close my eyes as she pushed the bristles of the brush through the ends of my hair first, slowly working her way up. She was always so gentle when she did it, almost the opposite of how we treated each other. This was somewhat of truce we kept between each other, usually something we'd do after an argument. It was a time where I knew I could talk to her, share my worries and fears. It was also when I was reassured that she didn't hate me. She'd even poke fun at me sometimes, saying that she didn't know what she'd do without a sister like me to keep her on her toes.

Remembering times with my sister made my eyes mist over once again. I sniffed as I wiped away tears. Seeing me crying again seemed to shock Ichigo. She asked me what was wrong, worrying over me like a mother hen. I couldn't help but giggle slightly when I told her I'd thought about my sister.

"Oh." She sighed in relief. "I thought I'd been doing something wrong."

I smiled. "No. We used to brush each other's hair when we were younger. It was one of the few times we didn't find something to fight about."

She smiled at me, glad that my mood seemed to be lifting. "You have a sister?"

I nodded, reaching up to tug slightly on the ribbon tied around the collar of my uniform. It became slightly askew as I played with it, and I fussed with it until I managed to make it look decent again. "Yes. She's four years older than me." Done with my ribbon, I shifted my weight as I looked back up at Ichgio. "She graduated this year, so she went to live with our grandparents in France to study before she goes to university next year."

The look in her eyes when I said this was startling. She clasped her hands together and pressed them to her chest, closing her eyes. "It must be amazing to have a sibling. I'm an only child."

I raised a confused eyebrow. "It's not all that great. It has its perks sometimes, though."

She sighed, leaning against the lockers. "Sometimes I wish that my parents would have another kid. But then I think about how much crying there would be in the night. I wouldn't want to wake up to help change diapers." She shuddered at just the thought.

I laughed as we made our way out of the locker room and into the kitchen. Our voices brought Keiichiro's attention to us as we stopped at the kitchen island. We wore sheepish expressions as he raised an inquisitive eyebrow, possibly because we'd both basically disappeared for about half an hour while we were supposed to be working. "Where have you ladies been hiding?"

"Um . . ." I looked to Ichigo for help.

"W-we weren't feeling so good, and we didn't want to get sick around any of the customers s-so we were in the locker room trying to . . . to -" She glanced frantically at me now.

I thought madly to try and come up with a second part of her excuse. Then an idea struck me. "To find some medicine! We weren't sure where it was, and we didn't want to disturb you while you were cooking. We didn't want to be rude."

We stood there, hoping he would at least seem to buy our lame excuses. Standing stiffly side by side, we waited anxiously for him to say something. He probably saw how desperately we wanted him to believe us, but either he pitied us or he hadn't really minded as much as we'd feared, because he said, "Well, I believe I can overlook it this one time since things have died down." Our eyes lit up at his words, but he held a hand up to stop us from saying anything. "But, if it happens again, I would have to tell Ryou, and I'd hate to tattle on girls as pretty and reliable as yourselves." He gave us a wink, then turned back to his cooking. We took this as a sign that we were dismissed.

"That was close," Ichigo murmured to me as we pushed through the kitchen doors. As we stepped out on to the floor we saw that Keiichiro had been right. There were fewer customers than before, only a few tables taken. I was grateful when I saw that Kish was sitting by himself, a cup of what I figured was tea sitting in front of him. Either Pudding or Mint had brought it to him, since Lettuce was standing at the register and Zakuro was cleaning a table near the front.

I sighed as someone called from a table. "You can say that again," I muttered as I turned in the direction of the customer, smiling brightly before I'd even faced their way. "Coming!" I called cheerfully, trotting over to tend to whatever they needed.

* * *

**A/N**: Haha! Bad way to end a chapter. Oh well xD

Next chapter (which I am currently in the middle of writing) will probably delve more into this "relationship" between Lily and Kish. I'm not sure, I have no outline for this, so nothing is ever definite XD

_Ciao_, dudes.


	5. Terrible Tower

**A/N**: If nobody's noticed, I tried to tamp down on the craziness when it come to Kish. I think that made him a little more sane. Or maybe I'm just imagining things?

Also, Merry Christmas! I figured since I finished this chapter the other day, I should at least upload it. Either way, I think this just might give some comic relief near the end . . . I laughed a little writing it. Enjoy.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of this fanfic except any OCs and the plot line itself.**

* * *

It had grown colder as the day had dragged on, and I had to pull my scarf over my nose when the wind blew around myself and Kish as we walked home. I had just gotten off work, and since we lived so close to each other, why not walk together? He was silent beside me as our shoes crunched through the thin layer of ice that covered the sidewalk. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, if it had anything to do with me embarrassing myself earlier. I shook myself mentally to clear my head of anything to do with earlier. What's done is done, I thought as we crossed the street.

The silence between us wasn't uncomfortable, but I had the urge to fill it with some sort of conversation. Wracking my brain of any topics that wouldn't sound ridiculous wasn't working, so I surveyed our surroundings. All I saw was snow in yards, a snowman here or there. _That's it_.

"Hey, Kish?" He looked my way, his eyes peering at me from under his hood. "When's the last time we made a snowman together?"

He looked up as he thought, his eye following the snow that drifted around us in the wind. "I'm not sure," he finally said. "It's been a few years, hasn't it?"

I nodded. "That's what I was thinking. I don't think we've built one since you came with my family to France. Wasn't that when we were, I dunno, nine or ten?"

His head tilted slightly as he shifted through his memories. "Maybe. All I remember is a week away from home."

Laughing, I pulled at the long sides of my hat where they wrapped around my neck as my scarf. It had pockets at the ends, but I preferred keeping my face and neck warm over my hands. That's what mittens were for.

Kish glanced at me. "What's with you and that weird hat? You've been wearing it none stop all week."

I raised an eyebrow at his tone. "It was a gift from Calla and my grandparents. They found it for me online as a gift for when I graduate from middle school this year."

"_If_ you graduate." I glared and he just laughed. "Come on, Lily. We've both seen your grades."

I huffed in indignation at his assumption that I couldn't pass the ninth grade. "If Calla can do it, then so can I. I'm going to put this upcoming break to good use and study like nobody's business."

"I'll believe it when I see it."

Slanting another glare his way, I knew what was coming even before I opened my mouth. "Jerk."

"Shrimp."

"Neanderthal."

"Mook."

"Goober."

"Oooh, nice one," he laughed.

We did this every once in a while, insulting each other playfully until one of us gave up. Usually Kish won, but I figured this was better than the silence. So I tried to think of something else we could talk about as we reached my neighborhood. "So, what'd you think of the cafe?"

He appeared thoughtful as we neared my house, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets. Opening his mouth to say something, he sneezed instead. Laughing, I jumped away, squealing like a little girl. "If you didn't like it, just say it, don't spray it," I joked. He gave me a withering glance as he rubbed his coat sleeve over his mouth. "I'm just teasing you."

He rolled his eyes, pulling a hand out of his pocket to tug on the side of my hat. Then he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, drawing me closer to block the wind as it blew tufts of ice from the sidewalk. I shivered, gladly leaning into his warmth and zipping my coat up further. "Gosh, what it up with this weather?" I muttered around my scarf. "I know it's winter season, but why is it so crazy?"

"We should get you inside," he said, pushing open the front gate to my house. It was immediately slammed back into place, banging loudly even in the wind. "Hold on." He forced the gate open, keeping it from shutting long enough so I could slip through into my yard. When I'd managed to make it past him he move, allowing the gate to fly back to catch on the lock. He looked at me through his hair. "I don't think I'll be able to get home through this," he said.

Grasping my hat so it wouldn't fly away, I nodded. The bobby pins that Ichigo had out into my hair earlier were coming loose, threatening to fly away into the wind if we didn't get inside soon. "Maybe my mom will be cool with you staying for a while," I called over the wind. "My dad's still not back from his business trip, so it shouldn't be too hard to convince her."

He followed behind me as we waded through ankle-deep snow. Tomorrow I'd have to get the shovel from wherever it was stored and clear some sort of path. Stomping the snow off our shoes and leaving them next to the door in the entryway, we made our way into the living room. I could hear Mom in the kitchen, probably preparing for dinner.

"Hey, Mom?" I stuck my head around the doorway that led to the kitchen. "Are you making dinner right now?"

Mom looked over her shoulder in our direction. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but her attention was diverted when Kish showed up behind me. I looked up at him as he pulled my hat off my head, letting it rest against the back of my coat. He ruffled my damp hair, ultimately pulling the bobby pins from my bangs. They clattered to the floor at my feet.

"Mom, can Kish stay for dinner? It's really nasty outside, and I don't think it's a good idea for him to try and make it home right now." _Please, please don't make him go home_, I begged mentally. I hadn't spent much time with my best friend the past few weeks, and this was a good time as any to talk with him.

She probably saw how much I wanted him to stay, because she heaved a defeated sigh, smiling slightly as she waved us into the kitchen. "He can eat if he earns his keep. Come help me with this, will you, dear?"

Grinning, I elbowed Kish lightly in the side. "Yeah, _dear_, go ahead. I'm going to drop my bag at the couch and grab my homework. Might as well finish what I can before break starts," I called over my shoulder as I headed back into the living room. I dropped my bag by the end of the couch. I myself fell against the couch cushions, releasing a heavy sigh. I'd been fighting Kirema Animas whenever I wasn't working or at school, and it was starting to pile on the stress. Running around, trying to help the other Mew Mews to save the world - it wasn't as rewarding as it sounded.

Leaning back, I ran the back of my hand across my forehead and wiped away any sweat that had started to bead on my brow. I figured now was a good time to pull my coat and hat off, so I struggled in my attempts to take my coat off before my hat. I became entangled inside, my hat's scarf wrapping around me and refusing to let go. "Um." My voice was muffled by fabric. I wasn't sure if it was my coat or my hat. All I knew was that I was completely stuck beyond my control. "Help!"

A shuffling sounded from the kitchen. It was coming closer, and soon I saw a pale face peering over the back of the couch at where I lay helpless on the floor. During my struggles I had rolled off the couch completely. Thankfully we had carpet in our living room instead of hardwood. From my spot on the floor, I looked up at Kish with helpless eyes. His own golden ones glimmered down at me in humor.

"I don't think that's how you're supposed to take a coat off, Lily." Since whatever I would have said was going to sound muffled, I settled for a glare. He just grinned at me. "Need some help?"

If I hadn't known how to watch my language, I would have been shooting so many insults at him that the milk in the fridge would have curdled. But I held my tongue for the moment to roll onto my stomach. Somehow during my struggles, my coat had managed to twist itself around me, causing the zipper to be at my back instead of my front. This didn't make it any easier for me when I had tried to wiggle my way out, it only allowed me to become further entrapped.

"Hold still," he said. He unwound my hat from my head first. This allowed me to breathe fresh air again. It had felt as if I was suffocating, and I exaggerated this by taking a large gulp of air once my face was free. I coughed a little while he tossed the hat onto the couch to start on my coat. I lay still as he undid the few buttons I had done at the bottom of the coat, then when I felt him searching for the top of the zipper, I shook my hair out of the way. Soon he had the zipper running down the track, then with a small click, I was free.

"I'm alive!" I yelled theatrically as I pushed against the floor, sending myself flying backwards. I hadn't really thought of what would happen if I did this. Maybe I should have, since I fell against Kish, knocking him to the floor with me.

I groaned as I rubbed my head, sore again from knocking against Kish's chin. I eased my head back far enough to see his face. A small sound - something like a squeak - escaped from me when I saw that he hadn't found what I'd just done humorous. His usually soft golden eyes looked almost as if they were darkening in color, his irritation completely apparent.

I became scared then. Usually my little jokes and mess-ups made Kish laugh, or at least crack that grin of his. But this time I probably went a little too far. I tried removing myself from atop him, making an attempt to also keep the skirt of my school uniform from flying anywhere (Which I should have done earlier, but I'd never thought of it), but an arm around my waist stopped me.

I froze, stuck between feeling embarrassed or feeling scared. I wasn't sure what he was going to do, but what I wasn't expecting was when he drew me back toward him. His chin rested on my shoulder, his voice brushing my ear as he whispered, "Now, why would you go and do something like that?"

My heart jack hammered against my rib cage, and I could feel how furiously red my face was. My cheeks burned as I struggled to create a complete sentence, let alone thought. Why was he acting this way? Usually he either whacked me slightly or just hassled me to no end. But now he was . . . just being weird.

"K-Kish. What are you doing?" I was really starting to get freaked out, enough so that I was beginning to act frantic in my attempts to pull away. "Please let me go," I stammered. I wasn't used to something like this, and he probably felt how freaked out I was since he finally let me go. I scrambled back from him. He leaned forward to try and look at my face, but I used the advantage of my loose bangs to hide how thoroughly embarrassed I was.

"Lily."

I flinched slightly when he reached a hand toward me. I heard him sigh and the rustle of clothes as he stood up. I followed the sound of his footsteps as he walked back to the kitchen to help my mother some more.

_Oh, my god_, I thought as I pulled my knees to my chest. I rested my forehead on top of my knees, trying to take deep breaths to calm my unsteady heart. _What just happened?_ Biting lightly at the inside of my cheek for probably the fifth time that day, I tried to make sense of what exactly had just occurred between me and Kish.

This was the second time that day that I had questioned something concerning Kish. It was bad enough that I'd thought he was an alien, now my heart decided it was a good idea to go into overdrive if he touched me?

Tears started gathering in the corner of my eyes, even though - again - I didn't know the exact reason for them. "I'm such an idiot," I muttered to myself, pushing my hair out of my face as I lifted my head. I leaned back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling as I tried to un-jumble my feelings. It felt as if they were coiling around each other behind my sternum, pressing against my chest and causing a painful ache. As I was rubbing the heel of my hand over my chest I heard a meow coming from the stairs. Looking up I saw it was Star, padding his way deftly down each step. I hadn't heard him coming down from my room.

"Hey, Star," I said. I stuck my hand out for him to sniff so he wouldn't run off. With his nose pressed softly against my fingertips, I slowly moved my other hand over his head. His fur felt nice between my fingers. He'd probably just cleaned himself. "Kitty, what do you think I should do?" I murmured to him as I reached out to lift him into my arms. He settled easily into my lap, and I could feel his purr radiating throughout his small body. I'd always been able to tell my secrets to Star - no worries, no judgement.

Murmuring softly to him, I spilled my guts to my cat as he continued to purr beneath my hand. The weight in my chest didn't release, but I felt some of the tension in my shoulders melt away. It felt that like I could breathe a little bit easier knowing that somebody was listening to me, even though the somebody was feline. Shifting my position on the floor I lifted him higher, resting him against my chest. It was easier to cuddle with him this way.

I buried my face in his fur, closing my eyes and breathing in his comforting scent. It made me feel warm and safe, and I felt so tired that I almost began to drift off. Footsteps coming from the kitchen again jarred me awake. I wasn't sure who it was, so I strained my ears to see if I could tell who was coming into the living room by the weight of their steps. It was a no-go, my ears couldn't strain hard enough to figure it out. But I did hear my mother humming to herself in the kitchen. That could only mean one thing.

I stiffened when the footsteps came to a muffled stop. There was a brief silence, and I sat there in nervous anticipation. I had my nose buried in Star's fur, so I couldn't tell what he was doing, and without warning, the cat began to growl. It started low in his chest, gradually growing in volume. I moved my face slightly, enough to make Star curious enough to stop growling. But then he started up again once I stopped moving.

Peeking through my curtain of hair, I saw through slitted eyes that Kish was sitting on the floor beside me. He had a hand reaching out and was staring at Star as the cat continued to growl. This struck me as odd since I'd never seen him be so malevolent toward Kish. Then again, I don't think I'd ever seen the two in the same room. Usually whenever Kish came over, Star immediately booked it to my room and hid for the duration of my friend's stay. I'd always brushed it off, but now I began to wonder.

I'd have to show that I wasn't asleep soon, or else I wasn't sure what would happen between the two. So, with a slight squeeze to my cat I mumbled, "Kish, what are you doing?"

I could tell I'd startled him slightly. He'd probably thought I'd been asleep, unaware to the fact that my cat was growling so loudly at him. It was possible that I could have put it off as purring if I'd been completely out of it, but since I wasn't asleep I knew that the sound my cat was making wasn't as pleasant as the vibrations in his chest from earlier. When I peered up at Kish through my hair I saw him look away, lowering his hand to his side.

"Dinner's ready," he simply said. Then he stood and went back to the kitchen.

Staring silently after him, I set Star on the floor. I pushed myself to my feet and made my way to the kitchen, but not before I glanced over my shoulder at Star. I must have been more exhausted than I thought, because for a moment I swore I saw his eyes glow an iridescent green. Rubbing my eyes, I looked again. They were normal as he seemed to peer up at me almost innocently.

_I'm starting to see things. It must be from overworking and fighting_, I tried to convince myself, shaking my head as I turned back to the kitchen. _There's nothing weird with my cat_.

* * *

After dinner Kish and I hung out on the couch. He was helping me work on the assignments my math teacher had given out that day. I'd never been the best with numbers, I always preferred my social studies class. I liked learning about history.

"Hey, Kish." I flipped my worksheet toward him so he could see it. "How do you solve this equation?"

He looked at the sheet of paper for a moment, and I watched as he read through the problem. Then he pointed at one part with my pencil. "Look here. You replace x with this number. That's how you get this."

Even though his explanation was short, I tried out what he said. I murmured under my breath as I worked my way slowly through the problem. Whenever I made an error Kish corrected me, and soon, after using the entire margin, I finally came to the conclusion that I was never going to figure it out. "Okay, that was a waste of time."

Chuckling, he took the paper from my hands and attempted to fix where I'd gone wrong. He helped me through it, explaining whatever he was doing when my face showed how lost I was. By the time he'd worked through only half of it I was seeing spots. My head felt like it was trying to process calculus when all we were doing was simple algebra.

"I'm done," I stated after a while. I pushed the worksheet away from me onto the coffee table. I rubbed my eyes as I leaned back into the couch cushion. My eyes were aching, a slight throbbing behind them. Probably because I couldn't seem to stop hitting my head.

My grumblings and homework were disrupted when a buzzing sound came from my backpack. Kish and I both stared at it, then each other. When it buzzed again I reached out and began to root through it, pushing aside folders and textbooks. I searched every pocket until I found the source: my cell phone, hidden away in a side pocket.

I glanced at Kish as I flipped it open. Ichigo's number was flashing across the screen. "Hello?"

"_Lily?_"

I bit lightly at my cheek. "What's up?"

"_Lily, Ryou and Keiichiro said they found another -_"

"Wait, give me a moment." I covered the phone's microphone, looking over at Kish. "Um, I'll be right back, okay?"

He gave me a curt nod, then he turned his eyes to where I'd set my homework. I grimaced slightly as I stood and walked toward the front door. The wind had calmed down enough that I could hear Ichigo without much of a problem. "Okay, what's going on?"

"_Ryou and Keiichiro said they've found another Kirema Anima._"

"Where?"

"_In the Tokyo Tower. It's scared everybody in the area below away._" She paused for a moment, and I could hear her say something to somebody on her end of the line. "_Mint just told me that they think it's on the first observation floor._"

"The one with glass floors?" That could be bad. There were only two areas where small glass "windows" were built into the floor so tourists could see to the streets below. If anybody were to stand near the Tower when the Kirema Anima busted the floors, someone might get hurt. "Do they know how dangerous it is yet?"

"_I'm not sure, but I think it might be strong enough to fatally wound an innocent bystander._"

_I need to go, then._ "I'm on my way." I snapped the phone shut as I headed back inside. Without a word I shot up the stairs to my bedroom. I could hear Kish jump to his feet as I ran past him, but I paid him no mind as I closed my door behind me. I rushed to change out of my uniform - I wasn't even sure why I was still wearing it. Hurrying to pull on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, I almost fell on my face multiple times as I pulled my feet into a pair of snow boots.

Once I'd changed, I bolted back down the stairs. In my haste, I almost ran into Kish. I hadn't noticed him standing at the bottom of the steps, and I had to bounce to the side to avoid crashing into him. "Whoa, sorry."

He didn't say anything as I snatched my coat from the floor. As I attempted to shove my arms through the sleeve holes, he watched me with thoughtful eyes. I was in such a rush that I almost didn't hear him when he said, "Where are you running off to?"

I looked up at him as I pulled my hat back on my head. I mentally floundered for a moment as I tried to think of an excuse that would make sense. "A friend of mine said she's stuck out in the snow. She's not too far from here, and I'm the only one in the area that she knows." _Hey, that actually makes sense._

"How about I come with you."

For a moment I froze, my fingers curled into the cotton-like fabric of my hat. Again I hesitated to say something - anything - glancing over at him to see if he was serious. Yup, he had that look in his eyes. I chewed my cheek as I debated between letting him come and making him stay at my house. "She said that she was stuck in a tree because a dog had chased her up it. You're not very good with animals, remember?" He frowned when he realized I was right. _Gotcha._ "I'm going to make sure she's okay, then I'll see her home on the subway. It won't take too long, I promise."

His frown deepened as he followed me toward the door. "But it's getting dark outside. It's dangerous for two girls to be out by themselves at night. You know that."

Now I frowned at him. Yes, I realized that it was dangerous for me to be out when it was close to dusk; I couldn't ignore Ichigo's call though. I probably wouldn't be in too much danger if I was transformed when something bad happened. My body was slightly modified from the injection of DNA that day a few weeks ago, and Ryou had assured me that it would strengthen me in a fight. "I'll be fine. She's not too far from here. It'll be like a walk to the market and back."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "The market is twenty minutes from here."

I glared back at him. "You make it sound like it would take all night. Look, my friend needs help and I'm going to go help her whether you like it or not." I unlocked and opened the door, about to step onto the front stoop, when his hand kept the door from opening all the way. I turned around, ready to ream him for stopping me, but I stopped when I saw his face. He had this look in his eyes, almost as if he knew that I wasn't going to save a troubled friend, but rather fight against a dangerous Kirema Anima and - if we were unlucky enough - the aliens themselves. Ichigo had informed me that they showed up a majority of the times they'd fought, so I was counting on getting a payback shot against Taruto.

"Don't go," he said softly.

I nearly lost the capability to speak. My mouth moved, but I couldn't say anything that resembled words. I could feel a blush creeping over my neck, so I ducked my head and pulled my hat over my eyes. I started slightly when I felt his hand on my shoulder, his grip tight but not hurting me. My hands started to shake, so before I could lose my resolve, I pushed out an "Let Mom know I'll be back soon," then I removed myself long enough to escape through the door. I was running before it even closed.

* * *

_Tokyo Tower, Tokyo Tower_, I chanted mentally as I ran through street after street. _How hard is it supposed to be to find a tower that's over one thousand feet tall?!_ I wasn't sure if my question was rhetorical or because I was becoming increasingly frustrated as I turned another street corner. I could see the tower, well, towering over all the other buildings that surrounded me, but that didn't make it easier to find the correct route. It felt like it had been hours since I'd rushed from my house, but a quick check of my phone told me it'd only been about five or so minutes. I was booking it as fast as I could, but I still couldn't seem to find the correct street. _This is ridiculous._

I slowed, coming to a complete halt on the empty sidewalk. My breath appeared as puffs of clouds as I tried to catch my breath. I rubbed my hands together in hopes of blood circulating through them again as I looked around me. The street was mostly empty with the exception of a person here and there on the sidewalk. There were no cars driving down the street, so I took the opportunity to cross the road, slipping into an empty alleyway when I saw the chance. I walked deep into the dark alley, my nerves prickling at the slightest sound. You're overreacting, I told myself as a rat scrambled along one wall. When I couldn't see the dim light filtering in from the street, I stopped. _This should do._

"_Mew Mew Lily! Metamorphose!_"

If anyone had looked down the alleyway while I'd been transforming, I didn't know, but once I had, I stood there for a moment. I flexed my fingers against the fabric of my finger-less gloves, then, with a nod to myself, I pushed hard against the ground. Flying easily up into the air, I faced the direction of Tokyo Tower. With my now-enhanced hearing, the sounds of screams and destruction of property reached my ears. I felt them tweak slightly at the amount of turmoil that must have been happening hundreds of yards away. I didn't waste any time and began hopping rooftops.

I could count the amount of buildings between myself and the tower, and when I was maybe a dozen away, something appeared on the rooftop that I was about to land on. Before my feet touched the roof I'd become wary, even slightly nervous, when I saw that it was Kisshu. His arms were crossed as he floated lazily in the air, only inches above the actual roof tiling.

My eyes followed his movements as I landed lightly on the balls of my feet. He was slowly floating in my direction, and once he was close enough he said, "I thought I said to stay away from the Mew Mews." He looked so serious when he spoke, but his voice sounded almost . . . saddened.

Taking a deep breath to calm my thumping heart, I clenched my teeth, trying to look brave as I ground out, "Sorry, I tend to not take instructions from extraterrestrial terrorists." I spread my feet to balance myself more, making sure to never take my eyes from him.

He sighed, and I saw him reach his arms behind his back. I kept my teeth clenched to keep them from chattering when I saw him pull out what looked like a pair of wicked-shaped swords. I remembered from history class that they were called sai, and they used to be used to by domestic police to arrest criminals. But they never looked anything like what his did. They were nasty looking, and I was debating whether or not I should really stick around when Kisshu rushed at me.

I gave a small yelp in surprise, jumping back to avoid getting my face slashed into sashimi. The attacks were causing me to push back from where I'd landed, slowly making me run farther away from the Tokyo Tower, just because I didn't want to get sliced to pieces. _Yeah, Lily,_ I thought to myself as I ducked, _keep thinking like that if you don't want to live._

Somehow, I was going to have to get myself out of this situation, especially if I wanted to go help my comrades. This may not have exactly been a war, but it was close enough to me. To gather my spirit, I jumped over the roof's edge, sliding down far enough that I could jump to the ground safely. Then I took off like a bat out of hell. As I ran down the street, I could hear Kisshu giving chase behind me, and I kept myself from glancing over my shoulder to check. _Keep running, Lily. Just keep running and don't look back. I'm sure he's far behind me._ I dared to look, instantly regretting it. He was only a few yards away, and gaining!

_Oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god, OH, MY GOD!_ I screeched my terror inside my head so I wouldn't lose any of the precious oxygen I was slowly running low on, especially with how far I'd managed to run without feeling winded. _What to do, what to do?_ Glancing around myself as quickly as I could, an idea popped into my head. _Here goes nothing._

Holding my hand out as I ran, I shouted, "_Healing Wish!_" The same rod from when the Tokage attacked appeared, but this time I didn't hesitate to grab it. Guess this answers that question of Ryou's, I thought idly as I dug my heels into the ground, spinning around to face Kisshu. It seemed that he hadn't anticipated my sudden stop, as he almost barreled into me. But I held my ground, and, in an instant of pure insanity, I grabbed hold of his black shirt's collar. Gripping my weapon tightly, I nearly shouted, "Stop trying to kill me, you psychotic alien!" as I proceeded to whack him on the head with Healing Wish. He didn't seem to appreciate it, since he gave a cry of annoyance and pushed me away with the back of his hand.

Deciding to take advantage of this moment, I fled once more. This time, instead of just hopping rooftops, I wove my way through alleyways, and when they became dead ends I jumped the walls. I always made sure the Tokyo Tower was in my sights when I leap into the air. It seemed that my plan was working, since when I looked over my shoulder I didn't see Kisshu. I figured I could go back to my original travel of hopping rooftops, and I was about to jump from where I was perched atop a brick wall, when a form blurred into clarity right before my face. I yelped in both surprise and fear, edging backward to get some distance between us.

This time, Kisshu didn't just look serious, he looked positively pissed off and annoyed. He was glaring at me, and I could see that his grip on the handles of his sai tightened, his knuckles turning even whiter. If it was even possible, it seemed like he might have wanted to hurt me even more, if the glint in his eyes was any indicator. He took a step toward me, I took one back. Step forward, step back.

_I'm running out of wall here_, I thought, just before I backed into the side of the building behind me. _Well, crap._

He slowly approached me, never taking his eyes off me for an instance. A crazy idea crossed my mind - it was so insane that I didn't even really want to try it, but if I wanted to get out of there I had to do something drastic enough that he'd be too stunned to follow me to the Tower. My teeth chattered as my nerves started wavering again, and I dug my nails into my palms to try and calm them. Once he was close enough I reached a hand out, far enough that I was almost touching him when he stopped out of reach. He continued to stare at me, seeming to be curious now, along with the blood lust clearly in his eyes. _Here goes nothing._ "K-Kish?" I didn't have to fake the stutter, I was really nervous. "Are you really Kish?"

His eyes widened and he took a step back. I could see his jaw move as he clenched his teeth. I hoped that didn't mean I'd been right. Before I could lose my nerve again, I rushed forward and shoved him away from me. I let him see how much I hated him at the moment for showing that small acknowledgement, probably proving that he was indeed my best friend. But for the moment I gritted my teeth again, and, with tears welling in my eyes, I said, "You could never be my Kish. He'd never try and kill me the way you've been trying." Then I did something I never thought I would: I held Healing Wish to where it pointed at him, and with my tears spilling over, called, "_Ribbon Mystical Wish_," my voice cracking as the heart on the end of my staff began to pulse. I took a step back as a great wind pushed me, flying at Kisshu and spewing bubbles along the inside of the small tornado that shot from my weapon. Each bubble that touched Kisshu exploded, and through blurry eyes I watched as he began to be covered with more and more slight wounds. _How is this having so much of an effect from something so small?_

I didn't stick around to see the extent of what my attack did to him; as soon as he backed away enough for me to feel confident again I took off, racing away as fast as I could.

* * *

"Mew Ichigo! Mew Ichigo!" I called as I circled the base of one of the tower's legs. I was in front of Foot Town, running almost in circles as I tried to figure out a way to get to the first observation floor. _Urgh_, I thought as I tried the first floor entrance. It was locked, obviously, and the ticket counter beside it was empty. "Hello!" I called. I cupped my hands around my eyes to try and see into the building, but all I saw was the empty floor. I could see to the elevators straight ahead, but I doubted that they'd be in working order with everybody who'd fled in terror already gone.

There has to be another way in, I thought to myself as I backed up a few feet. I craned my neck to see to the roof, but I didn't see anything that looked suspicious to me. I grumbled to myself as I paced for a few moments, debating on the best way of making my way up the tower itself without forcefully breaking into the entrance to Foot Town. _Guess I'll just have to jump my way up._ I moved further from the front of the building, then, when I felt I was far enough I began to run. _Here we go_.

With enough force and speed, I pushed off the ground, sending myself flying high into air. I kept my eyes straight up, refusing to move them from where I'd fixed them on the clouds above. It was becoming closer and closer to nightfall, and the sky was stained many shades of reds and oranges. It was pretty, the clouds shining in the light from the setting sun, showing even more colors of the sunset. If I hadn't been about to head into a fight I would have stopped long enough to admire it all, but for the moment I pushed those thoughts aside, keeping my mind to the fact I was heading to help my friends.

I wasn't sure exactly how high my jump had pushed me, but it felt like forever for the lattice pattern of the Tower's main body to fill my peripheral vision. I could see the elevator shaft in its center when I looked before me finally. That meant I was more than four stories above the ground, and it also meant that I was getting closer and closer to the first observation floor. Soon, I began to slow in speed. By that time I was halfway up the tower's body, so from there I landed on one part of the tower, pushing myself up, and once again sending myself flying even higher.

Finally I reached the observation floor. I could see that one of the windows in the floor was already shattered, so I managed to quickly climb through the hole it created. I knew from field trips that it would have taken a great weight to break through the glass, so it was obvious that the Kirema Anima we were tracking was not only very dangerous, but quite heavy. With a quick glance around, I hurried down the hall, following the piles of rubble and glass that lined the floor and grew every few feet or so. The sounds of a struggle became more apparent as I neared the end of the hall. "Mew Ichigo!" I tried again.

I got an answer this time. "Mew Lily!" As I turned the corner, I saw something flash past me. Once she hit the ground, I saw it was Mint, but before I could attempt to help her she was back on her feet and running. Looking around her I saw something that resembled a large black dog - if you decided to ignore the fact that its tail was whip-like and that it stood possibly past ten feet, its ears almost brushing the ceiling. "Mew Lily!" Ichigo brought my attention back to her. She pointed behind her to the wall. I could see an immense pile of what probably used to be the ceiling, and beneath it a pair of legs - small legs.

"Mew Pudding!" I rushed over to help her, immediately beginning to dig through the rubble. There was so much of it, and the broken edges tore at my fingers and gloves. But I ignored it the best I could as I managed to pull an exceptionally large portion off of Pudding's legs. She looked at me as if I were saving her life, and it was possible that I was as I continued to dig. Once I'd managed to unearth her the best I could, I pulled her to her feet and almost fell over when she proceeded to grip me tightly in a hug.

"Thank you, Lily!" she called over her shoulder as she ran back into the fray. I stood there speechless for a moment, then the sound of fighting brought me back to my senses. Looking up in time, I managed to avoid was looked almost like a shot of lightning. Was this how it was creating such a mess?

_I think I've bitten off more than I can chew this time_, I thought as I ducked behind the pile of rubble that had trapped Pudding only moments before. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that the Kirema Anima was aiming most of its attack in my general direction, since as soon as I'd ducked another bolt of lightning shot over my head. _Ichigo, why can't you take care of this thing already?!_ I was beginning to become more and more frustrated as the alien monster continued to spit electricity at us.

"Mew Ichigo!" I called over the sound of destruction. "What should we do? This thing isn't going to quit any time soon, I think." I cursed silently to myself when a bolt crashed into the rubble protecting me. I couldn't even hear Ichigo's answer over the loud sizzling sound the disintegrating plaster and sheet rock made. Looking over my shoulder from where I now lay splayed across the broken floor, I saw the Kirema Anima butt its head toward one of the Mews. It didn't make it any better when it took a step in my direction, slamming a large black paw near me. _Oh, come on, again?_

Something was up with the way the Kirema Animas somehow managed to pin me one way or another. The first time with the Tokage was because of the snow; now it was fear. I was starting to hate these these with such a passion that it rivaled the one I had for their masters. _Okay, Lily_, I though hurriedly to myself. _Think. Think think think think think - oh!_ I'd almost forgotten about my weapon. I searched the floor on either side me, but all my fingers touched was rubble and destroyed tile. _Well, crap_, I thought for the second time that day.

The Kirema Anima was looming over where I lay helpless on the floor. There was nothing I could do but stare up at its face as came closer and closer. Soon I could smell its hot, rancid breath as it snorted air through its nostrils. I swore it sparked with electricity like what it shot through its throat, but maybe I was just imagining things. Either way, I needed this thing away from me. I was saved when I heard a shout from behind the Kirema Anima.

"Hey!" I looked between the Anima's paws to see who it was. Almost twitching with humor, I was able to see Ichigo standing - well, she was supporting most of her weight on one foot - a few feet behind it, this furious expression on her face. In one hand I saw her weapon Strawberry Bell, in the other my Healing Wish. "If you fight one of us, you fight all of us!" she shouted at the alien. I never would have seen what happened next coming, even if a psychic had told me earlier on in the day. Rearing back far enough to make a pro pitcher jealous, I watched in horror as she chucked my weapon at the Kirema Anima's turned head.

I couldn't believe it! She'd thrown Healing Wish! _At the freaking Kimera Anima!_ I lay there on the floor in shock, even as the Anima above me was distraced, shaking its head like it was trying to get rid of an itch. It didn't seem too concerned with Ichigo's frustration as it reached a back foot forward to scratch the general area where Healing Wish had landed. Taking advantage of this moment quickly, I scrambled to my hands and knees and began to crawl beneath the busy alien. With a quick glance to the side, I managed to find Healing Wish, snatching it as fast as I could. _I need a vacation_, I thought as I crawled.

Once I was at the tail end of the Kirema Anima, I scrambled to my feet beside Ichigo. "Are you crazy?" I whispered vehemently to her. "Why would you go and throw Healing Wish like that? Now there's a crack in it!" I showed her the red orb on the bottom, where a large crack was beginning to form. "Ryou said that this end of the rod shouldn't ever be broken, that something bad might happen." She just gave me this look, like she couldn't believe what I was telling her. Hadn't Ryou told anyone else about this? I didn't have very long to discuss it with Ichigo, since the Kirema Anima seemed to finally notice that I'd disappeared. It growled in annoyance, twisting its head back and forth in search of me. "Why can't we ever get a break," I muttered to myself. I saw its ear twitch. _Crap._

"Everybody, run!" I yelled. For the moment, it didn't matter that I wasn't the leader, I was just the new girl who barely had any idea of what she was doing. I was such a greenhorn, a sapling barely even blossoming its first leaves in spring. _This is not the time to be thinking about metaphors_, I thought as I followed Ichigo down the hall. We turned the corner together, momentarily forgetting that we were basically going to be running in circles - it didn't really matter at the time, we were just _running for our lives, thank you_.

"You know, we're technically going to be running in a circle, er, square, right?" I decided to point out anyway. I could feel a stitch starting in my side, and it ached with every breath I took. Ichigo stayed silent as we ran, and I could feel an almost indecisive touch to the air as she looked at the walls around us.

"This is the side with the cafe on it, right?"

If I'd had more air in my lungs I would have asked her if she was crazy. We were running from a lightning-breathing Kirema Anima, and she was asking about a _cafe_? Gritting my teeth, I decided I might as well humor her. "Yeah," I rasped. "It should be on the other side of this corner." I saw her nod her head, then she was silent once again. The only sound that filled the air was the soles of our boots slamming onto the floor and our hard breathing as we ran. Running, running, running - that's all I was doing today. From Kish at home, from the alien Kisshu out on the streets, and now we were running from a giant dog that needed a muzzle and leash! Where was the dog catcher when we needed one?

A roar sounded through the corridor, and rumble beneath our feet caused both of us to stumble slightly mid-run. I fell against the inner wall of the corridor; the glass facing the northwest side of the city splintered with tiny spiderweb cracks. Small pieces chipped from the large framed glass, clattering to the floor like scattered marbles. They crunched underfoot as I straightened, pushing against the wall to support myself. "I-Ichigo?"

"I'm okay." As we'd been fighting and running it had been slowly growing darker outside. My eye sight wasn't very enhanced, even transformed, but using the tower's lights that glowed through the fractured windows, I managed to make out Ichigo's silhouette kneeling on the floor. "But I fell on some glass."

"It's to be expected," I said, not unkindly. "I think I might have as well."

As I spoke, I probed my arms and elbows with light pressure, searching for any stray shards that might have embedded themselves into my skin. With a hand checking one arm, I stepped a little closer to Ichigo as she stood. Once again, I noticed a slight wobble to her step, how she held most of her weight on her left foot, as she took a few steps toward the broken windows. "What do you think that was?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at me in the glowing darkness.

Chewing my cheek, I winced slightly when my thumb found a small sliver stuck in my skin. Touching it with the lightest pressure, I feathered my hand around the piece of glass to determine how large it was. While I debated in my head whether to pull it out now, out loud I said, "Probably the Anima. I'm not so sure it was happy after we ran off like that." I gritted my teeth, forgetting that I was still gnawing on the inside of mouth. It wasn't long before I tasted the sharp tang of blood, and decided I needed to quit my little habit quickly. "I hope everybody got away safely."

With the help of the outside lights, I saw her nod. I noticed she was keeping her eyes pointed outside, her chin tilted up. She was acting sort of odd, and when I came to stand beside her she didn't even look my way. "Ichigo?"

She blinked, her ears twitching in unison. "Yeah?"

"Are . . . you okay?"

Turning on her heel so suddenly, my eyes lost focus of her for a moment. I found her again as she was walking toward the corner. "I feel fine. Why?"

The hair on the back of my neck prickled, which gave me a bad feeling. I wasn't sure if it was nerves or because I could physically feel the air begin to fill electricity. My suspicions were confirmed when I saw Ichigo's hair lift slowly into the air by means I couldn't exactly comprehend at the moment, until the floor began to quake once more.

"What the-?" Ichigo and I gave shouts of surprise and fear when we saw the Kirema Anima. It was barreling around the far corner at the end of the corridor, rage in its eyes as it bounded right in our direction. "Run!" I cried, and we scrambled as fast as our feet could carry us into Cafe la Tour. We hopped the counter, sliding across its cleared surface with little grace. The floor behind it was bare of anything we could use for hiding, and the sound of the Kirema Anima's pounding footfalls growing closer and closer made our search for safety more frantic.

"Ichigo?" She'd scooted herself beneath the counter, Strawberry Bell clutched tightly in her hands. Slowly I crawled across the linoleum on all fours, cursing the hardness of the floor against my knee caps. "What's the probability of that Anima not finding us?" My voice shook slightly with the fear that ran all throughout me. Behind me, I could feel the display glass rattle with every land of the Kirema Anima's large paws against the floor. I managed to climb under the counter beside her, setting Healing Wish between us. _She'd better not throw it again_, I thought with a grimace. My unpleasant thoughts skidded to a halt though, when a snout poked its way around the corner. The Anima skulked into the cafe, keeping its nose pressed close to the floor as it sniffed.

_How can we beat lightning?_ I thought as I pressed myself under the counter as far as I could without making too much noise. Keeping my hand pressed to my injured arm, I felt blood begin to bubble under my fingers, spilling over and dripping to the floor. Not good. If that alien had a nose like the dog it was possibly mutated from, then it was bound to pick up the scent of my blood soon. "Ichigo," I dared to hiss. It was hard to see her in the blackness behind the counter, but I managed to make out her eyes, glowing in the light reflecting off the menu board on the wall. The Kirema Anima had grown silent, and we held our breaths as we heard it shuffle across the floor, sharp nails scuffing the linoleum. _We need to think of something fast._

I debated in my head whether we should try to make a run for it when I saw the tip of the Anima's tail looming over the counter right in front of us. Stifling a gasp, I covered my mouth and nose tightly with one hand to silent my breathing, reaching over to grasp Ichigo's skirt with the other. My fingers were gripping it so hard that they were shaking, and I could feel Ichigo's leg trembling through the fabric, adding to my own. Please, please, I begged silently. Please, just go back into the corridor so we can figure out just _what_ we can do against this Anima.

Either my pleas were heard by someone or we were just lucky at the moment, because the Anima's tail gave a bored flick, and we heard the _click clack_ of its claws as it slowly padded around the corner into the hallway. When its footsteps faded as it walked further down the corridor, I slowly climbed out from underneath the counter. Trying to be as silent as I could, I began to slowly open the cabinets beside and in close proximity with our hiding place. I was looking for something conductive to lightning, something that could redirect the flow of electricity long enough to delay the alien from killing us.

My search came up empty. The utensils that the cafe used were all plastic, their plates ceramic. _I don't think we're going to find anything here_, I thought as I shut the final drawer. Nothing was going to help us, at least not that I could see. I looked over at Ichigo to see her tapping buttons on the machines against the wall. Nothing really happened when she pressed a few of them, but one of the nozzles spurt soda, spilling loudly to the floor. She looked up at me, this meek expression on her face and her ears pressed flat to her head. _Sorry_, she mouthed. Hadn't she been doing this long enough to know not to mess with anything that could bring the Anima's attention back to us?

I grimaced as we listened, our heightened hearing straining as we tried to find a sign that the alien had heard us. But the only sound we heard was a small _boom_, the floor shaking slightly beneath us again. "Must have found the other Mew Mews," I murmured. "Time to go."

Ichigo nodded, grabbing Mystical Wish from our hiding spot and tossing it lightly to me. Catching it easily, I winced lightly when I felt a sharp pain run down my arm. Looking at where the glass shard had pierced my skin, I could see blood spilling more freely down my arm. I felt my face pale at the sight of it, and I squeezed my eyes shut to help push away any gruesome thoughts. Clicking my teeth lightly together, I followed Ichigo slowly into the hall.

_Gotta find the other Mew Mews, gotta get out, gotta avoid getting electrocuted_. I kept repeating this in my head the entire time we were jogging down the corridor. Shards of glass crunched under our feet like snow, bits drifting across the floor as the wind outside blew cold air around us. I shivered slightly from the chill. I was missing my hat and jacket right about then, and the thought of them brought a question to mind. "Hey, Ichigo?"

She looked over her shoulder at me, her ears twitching to show that she'd heard me. "What happens to our clothes when we transform?" I asked, my breath puffing in front of my face as an icy cloud. I'd been thinking about this for the past few days, and I figured now was a good time as any to ask somebody about it. A thoughtful look crossed her face as she tried to come up with an answer. For as long as she'd been a Mew Mew - and their leader as well - I figured she'd might have some idea. After a moment though, she shook her head as we slowed our footsteps. "That's something you'd have to ask Ryou," she said. "He and Keiichiro are the ones who know all the scientific stuff of being a Mew Mew. We're just the grunts."

My brow furrowed at he words. "Grunts?"

"Yeah, grunts. Keiichiro and Ryou are the heads of all this; we're the ones who do most of the physical work."

"So, basically we do their bidding like a bunch of minions?"

She gave a small giggle. "Yeah, I guess that's another way to put it. But we don't just do mindless things, you know?"

I smirked. "Yeah, right."

The whole time we'd been talking, a steady rumble had been building under our feet again. We'd noticed it, but kept it from becoming part of our conversation, even as both of us had stumbled a couple times. Our talking halted once we came to the end of the corridor, back toward the broken glass floor window I'd climbed out of. We were on the south east side of the Tower now, and we slowed as we came to the edge of the corner. Pressed against the wall to stay out of sight and range of lightning, Ichigo peered around the corner to see what was going on. She popped back to standing straight when a bolt of lightning flashed past her face. Glancing at me, her eyes wide, her fingers dug into the wall as she said, "I think we have a problem."

_Oh, what now?_ My brow furrowed as I looked at her. She gripped Strawberry Bell in her hand as she dared another peek around the wall. This time nothing was shot in her general direction. "We need to get out there," she said, glancing back at me. I nodded, a little anxious - maybe even scared - as I thought about going against that monster again. But I pushed away from the wall with her without any hesitation, following my leader back into the fray. _I'm not going to like this at all, am I?_ I thought grimly.

* * *

**A/N**: Sooooo, yeah. Not sure how long it took for this one, but I'm pretty sure it was about a month or so, give or take.

The parts with the look down windows, Foot Town, Cafe la Tour, I actually did a little research into Tokyo Tower to make sure I got it as accurate as I could. Hope I didn't do too bad. Tell me what y'all think :)


	6. Let It Out

**A/N**: I'm not even sure when my last update was for this one. I know it wasn't too long ago, but I'm not even sure anymore XD

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of this fanfic except any OCs and the plot line itself.**

* * *

"Ichigo!" She looked back at me as a flash of lighting speared the space between us. I almost slipped on some broken glass and down the floor window when I dodged it, but I managed to catch my footing before I went tumbling down almost five hundred feet. I wasn't sure I could have survived that without being injured immensely. My arm was starting to bleed freely now, and my feet slipped over the spilled blood on the floor. _Not good, not good, not good_, I thought frantically, panicking when the corridor seemed to tilt sideways and took me with it. I fell on my shoulder, hard, and it took a lot for me to just to try and sit up.

Through the haze that was my eye sight I watched as the other Mew Mews battled the Kirema Anima head on. I could barely see them attacking it with everything they had, Mint shooting her arrows, Zakuro cracking her whip; Pudding and Lettuce must have been somewhere behind it. Ichigo was climbing over the broken floor toward me, a determined look on her face when she knelt beside me. "Lily! Are you okay?" she all but demanded as she helped pull me to my feet.

Nausea swept through me swiftly, and I staggered slightly when I tried to stand on my own. I was about to nod my head when lightning shot towards our general direction. I pressed flat against the wall to avoid getting struck, but Ichigo wasn't as lucky. She held Strawberry Bell up and gave a cry, and the lightning zig-zagged around her in crazy sparks.

"Ichigo!" I called again, trying to see her through the bright light. There was no answer, only a small sort of explosion as Ichigo was thrown back by the force of it. I heard more than saw her hit the floor about ten yards to my right, back the way we had come. It was hard to fight the urge to run after her and check to see if she was okay, but with my strength feeling drained I couldn't do much besides lean heavily against the wall. Something was dripping into my eyes, obscuring my vision even more. With a shaking hand I gently touched my forehead. I knew what I'd find, but I still had to grit my teeth when my fingers found a gash above my left eye. _Oh great_, I thought mirthlessly. _More blood for me to lose_. I was beginning to become testier the more I got hurt.

The crackle of electricity brought my attention back to the Kirema Anima as it readied another bolt of lightning, aimed my way. Moving fast enough to counter even a cheetah, I leapt out of the way, launching myself in the direction of one of the floor windows, near where Ichigo had landed on the floor. "Guys!" I yelled, grabbing their attention before I fully passed out. I could see the other Mew Mews turn their heads to look at me, distress written on nearly all their faces. I pressed my hand quickly to Ichigo's neck to check her pulse - slightly weak, but still there. _Good._ "I'll try and distract the Anima; take it out fast!"

Mint and Lettuce looked at each other briefly; Zakuro said nothing while Pudding had a tired - yet determined - look on her face. The first to step forward was Zakuro, brandishing her cross-shaped whip. She lifted it up, calling out, "_Ribbon ZaCross Pure!_" and brought it down, hard, across the Kirema Anima's back. It gave a sharp cry of pain, even giving the appearance that the alien was finally going to separate from the animal - but at the last second its wavering form sharpened. So close.

Soon after Zakuro attacked the other Mew Mews readied their weapons - Mint pulled back her bowstring, Pudding rang her tambourine and bell ring together, and Lettuce held her castanets, her arms crossed over her chest. They all attacked at the same time, and I had to shield my eyes, leaning down next to Ichigo. With their voices ringing in my ears, I could barely hear the cry from the Anima as it went down to the ground. But it wasn't done yet.

"Lily!"

Glancing up, I saw Mint standing in a haggard battle pose, her bow pointing toward the floor between her spread feet. She looked like that shot had taken everything she had - they all did, each of them either leaning against a wall or kneeling on the ground. They looked even worse than I did, and I was losing blood all over the floor. I tried not to think about this and focused on what Mint was saying.

"One last shot, that's all it should take! You're the only one left who has enough strength to even stand - take the shot!"

I blinked away the blood that slowly dripped over my eyes, rubbing it away and possibly smearing it all over my face. But I didn't care. I put all my focus into standing, to face the weakened Kimera Anima before my equally weak legs gave out on me. Holding Healing Wish with what little strength I had left, I yelled, "_Ribbon Mystical Wish!_"

This time I was better prepared for the onslaught that was my attack - my feet were spread as best they could to take the brunt of the force; my weak-yet-somehow-still-working arms gripped the shaft of the rod as tight as I could; my teeth were gritted in anxious anticipation. When the heart began to pulsate I didn't have long to wait, the tornado immediately pushing against me as I tried to stand my ground. It swirled and the sound of the wind roared in my ears, energy-formed bubbles pushing their way through the tornado and aiming directly for the Kirema Anima as it tried to get to its feet. Its tail was beginning to lash from side to side, negating the effects of my attack almost completely. But I forged on.

"This time _stay down_!" I all but screamed at the Anima. The force of my scream seemed to push my attack further, and I was almost knocked over as it seemed to kick it up a notch. I had to brace my uninjured arm against the broken wall to keep from falling over as the bubbles shooting from my attack seemed to almost . . . sharpen.

_They're not becoming blades . . . are they?_ Either my eyes were playing tricks on me in my exhausted state, or my attack was indeed becoming more dangerous, the bubbles seeming to become discs that flew through the air, aided greatly by the wind. They exploded on impact when one touched the Kirema Anima, and it roared in pain and fury as its legs began to buckle beneath it. Its cry reverberated in the corridor, the sound of it piercing our ears as if someone was shoving a knife through our ear drums over and over again. The effect on my own was dampened slightly, the wind keeping the sound from surrounding me completely. The other Mew Mews weren't so lucky.

Behind the Anima I could see Mint, Lettuce, Pudding, and Zakuro cringing in pain on the floor, their hands pressed tightly over their ears to try to block the roar. I gritted my teeth harder as the bubble-blades tore into the Anima, and after what seemed like forever, it finally gave a soul-shattering howl, falling over and separating from the dog with a bright light.

_F-finally._ Falling to my knees, I braced myself against the floor as I tried to breathe as evenly as possible. With the adrenaline that had been pumping through me, I'd been able to stand longer than I thought I could, but that also meant that my blood was flowing freely down my face and arm still because of my pumping heart. _Why won't this blood stop?_ I thought numbly, lifting my injured arm to inspect my cut. With all the moving and the fighting the sliver I'd caught with my earlier fall had dug itself deeper into my flesh, possibly almost to some major artery or vein in my arm. _Not good_. I grimaced at the thought of a trip to the hospital, but I knew one was inevitable, especially with this cut gushing from my forehead.

"Someone catch the alien! We don't have Masha with us."

I looked up to see a couple of the girls trying to capture the small alien as it floated lazily away, possibly back to its masters to be used again in more experiments. I was so tired, and I knew the others were too since they were almost falling over each other in their exhaustion. Looking up to follow the alien with my eyes, something came to mind. With a quick glance down at Healing Wish, I looked past the orb to the bottom of the pole itself. Inside I saw the Mew Mark that branded our pendants, the same one that was on Ichigo's inner thigh. It was a risky shot, but I knew that this rod had to have more than one thing it could do. So I pointed the base of it toward the alien, red orb facing away from me, and managed to squeeze out, "_Bubble Bottle._"

_Why does that sound so lame?_ I feebly thought as I had to lean against the wall again. Through misty eyes I watched as something, I think another bubble floated quickly toward the alien , but it was . . . pink? I wasn't so sure, but I couldn't stick around long enough to find out because even though I could hear the cries of joy from my team mates, I was slowly drifting off into unconsciousness. As I slid down the wall, my grip on Healing Wish released, and I was gone.

* * *

It felt like I was on a cloud, floating softly in the sky as I drifted under the sun. The open warmth from the star let me bask in its glow fully, completely different from how the weather had been lately. All it had been was snow and wind; just the wind if we were lucky. I'd never really liked the cold, but lately, something seemed to be almost . . . pulling me to it. Maybe it was the panda DNA that had taken residence inside my body.

Why was I thinking about all this? What was the point of it? I just wanted to enjoy how the sun felt on my skin, my face, my arms, my . . . legs?

I was pulled almost violently from my dream, waking gasping and sweating and extremely light-headed. Dots swam around in my vision as my eyes adjusted to the dim light shining in through a window. After I recovered enough to see again, my eyes whipped around, trying to figure out where I was, but as soon as I felt the sheets between my clenched fingers, the almost-feathery feel of the pillow behind me, I knew where I was.

Blinking my eyes in the dimness of the room, I saw that I wasn't alone. Over in the computer chair, typing away without looking away from the screen, was Ryou. He was wearing a button up shirt, the top couple buttons undone as he leaned back from the monitor, finally glancing my way.

By the time he'd noticed me, I'd managed to calm my breathing to normal. My heart, however, was still beating a bit harder than what I'd like it to, but I paid that no mind. The way he was looking over at me set me on edge, like something was wrong. "Wh-what?"

He didn't say anything, just stood and made his way over to me. Leaning over so he was eye level with me, he poked me in the forehead, right near where the gash above my left eye. I flinched visibly, pulling away from his hand quickly so he couldn't do it again. Tears pricked my eyes as I looked up at him, my hands covering my forehead to protect my wounded face. "What'd you do that for?" I demanded.

Again, nothing. He just raised an eyebrow at me, then raised his hand. I thought he was going to poke me again, so I squeezed my eyes shut and braced myself. But all he did was settle his hand on top of my head, ruffling my hair a bit. I wasn't sure what to do. I mean, nowadays it felt like I was getting affection from everybody!

"Good job with the Anima earlier. Now take it easy."

That was it. After all the comments I thought he could make, he goes and surprises me. I couldn't help the confused expression that showed clearly in my eyes. But he just grinned and headed for the door.

"Hey." He stopped, looking over his shoulder at me. There was this calm look on his face, almost like nothing had ever happened with the Kirema Anima, that we had basically helped an alien mutation destroy private property. It was freaking me out. "What's up with that? 'Good job with the Anima earlier.' You're acting as if we didn't almost kill ourselves fighting that alien."

Now I saw the Ryou I'd gotten to know. He frowned, his brow furrowing slightly in thought, his head tilted ever so to the side. Then he looked at me again and said, "What did you expect me to say? 'Don't do that again'? 'Try not to die next time'?" His brow furrowed even more as he leaned against the door jamb. "Lily, I know it's dangerous for you girls to be fighting out there. I've seen fight after fight, battle after battle with the aliens and their little minions that they like to control."

_Speaking of minions._ "I almost forgot, I have a question for you."

Seems like my little interruption threw him off a little. But he just shook his head and looked at me, waiting for me to ask it.

"I asked Ichigo this earlier, but she said to ask you or Keiichiro about it." He nodded for me to go on. "Well," I continued, scooting back until my back was resting against the pillow, "for the past few weeks I've wondered: When we transform, what happens to our clothes? I mean, today I'd been wearing a heavy winter coat, street clothes, and a hat. Yet when I transform, it's still the same outfit, every time."

The idea of there being an explanation baffled me, but he seemed to actually have one. "Look at it this way." He held up both hands, palms facing up to the ceiling. "You know about how matter can't be created or destroyed?" I nodded. "When you're transformed, your normal clothes don't disappear - they become your transformed uniform. Basically, the particles of your jacket, clothes, whatever you're wearing, rearrange themselves when you transform, at first being one thing, then becoming another - thus forming the uniform."

My dumb look must have told him that I wasn't following, because he sighed, running a hand through his hair. For what felt like the next hour, I sat leaning against the wall as he tried to explain it to me as simply as he could. After a while I felt like I got it, but he knew that I didn't fully understand it. So for the meantime he dropped it.

"I think it's about time we got you home."

I leaned away from the wall, his words catching my attention once more. Casting a glance around his room, I couldn't even tell how dark it was outside because the drapes were drawn again, the light glaring down at me. I squinted when I looked up at it. "What time is it?"

Strolling over to the computer and wiggling the mouse, the monitor hummed back to life under his command. I watched him as he typed a password in, then glance down at the corner of the screen at the clock. "It's around eight or so. You weren't out for very long." Grabbing a couple of coats off the back of his computer chair, he tossed my winter coat toward me. It landed softly in my lap. "About when did you leave your house?"

I frowned as I thought. "Let's see. I ate dinner around maybe five-thirty-ish with my mom and a friend; left at about six when I got a call from Ichigo. So yeah, about six or so. But I told my friend that somebody I knew was stuck in a tree because of a dog."

He smirked. "Well, you weren't too far off from the truth."

Now that I thought about it, yeah, he was right. This struck me as so funny that I began to giggle, but I soon found that it was a bad idea to laugh. A small throb ran through my head with my laugh, and I groaned slightly and pressed lightly at my temples with my fingertips. This didn't help much, but I tried to convince myself that it would help relieve some of the pressure. "With this headache I just got, does that mean I lost a lot of blood or no?"

"Keiichiro checked you earlier. He said you only lost about twelve or so percent of blood volume. You probably thought you lost more than what you really did." He moved away from the chair as he shrugged his coat on. "Let me check temperature, just in case." Brushing my bangs away from my face, he leaned forward until his forehead was pressed against mine.

I blushed. I couldn't help it, I wasn't used to such close proximity with guys other than Kish, and he's my best friend! Averting my eyes when he moved away, he fixed his own hair as he picked up my shoes from by the bed and turned back to the door. "Come on," he said, holding out a hand. I looked between him and his hand dubiously. He rolled his eyes and repeated, "Come on. Don't be stubborn and just accept a little help."

Well, when you put it that way. Just to irk him, I rolled my eyes in return, but accepted the help up. I didn't hold his hand as we made our way downstairs, but I did keep a grip on his jacket sleeve so I wouldn't tumble head over heels down the steps. At the bottom he gave me my shoes and I slipped them on. I hadn't even noticed that they'd been taken off.

"Ready?" We were at the door now, about to head outside, when I heard my name called behind me, coming from the direction of the kitchen. I turned to see Keiichiro hurrying toward me. In his hands he carried a folded bundle. Upon further inspection up close, I found it was my hat.

"Oh, thanks Keiichiro." I smiled gratefully up at him. "I can't believe I almost forgot this."

His smile in return was sweet. "Make sure you get enough rest when you return home, drink a lot of fluids, and change the bandage above your eye and on your arm every so often."

I'd almost completely forgotten about my arm. Shrugging off the right sleeve of my coat and pulling gingerly at my T-shirt sleeve, I saw that there was indeed a bandage covering the cut on my arm where that glass shard had embedded itself. I looked up at Keiichiro inquisitively.

"I removed the shard of glass while you were unconscious. You needed a few stitches so the cut will heal correctly." He ruffled my hair just like Ryou had. "For your forehead you just needed the bandage; head wounds just bleed a lot." He went on to explain how I should care for my stitches.

Gosh, I must've been the life of the party today to get this much attention! Without meaning to, I blushed again, my face heating to an embarrassing level. It raised to thermonuclear when Keiichiro leaned down and pecked me on the cheek. "Take all the time you need to recuperate Miss Lily. You look extremely exhausted."

After that hour power nap I had some extra energy, but beneath that small power source I felt completely drained. Blood loss and fighting, it'll do that to you. Instead of saying something I just nodded, almost letting the exhaustion overcome me before we were even out the door. I said good-bye to Keiichiro as we headed outside, telling him that I'd take care of myself so I could get back to work and kicking alien butt. His answering smile looked more out of politeness than humor.

"Where are the girls?" I asked as we walked - well, he walked, I dragged my feet in the snow. I was slowly becoming more tired with every step we took down the streets in the direction of my house. Whenever he asked me for directions I pointed, not up to speaking sometimes. The street lights glowed as we walked, glittering off the snow-covered streets.

"We sent them home as soon as they got patched up. You guys worked hard today and deserve a good rest." He glanced down at me, a frown crossing his face when he saw how winded and pale I was. "Hey, are you okay?"

Grimacing at how transparent I'd been - it was kind of hard to hide how tired I was - I tried to walk with a much steadier pace, failing completely when I almost tripped over my own feet. I managed to catch myself by grabbing quickly at his arm, but by doing that I almost took him down with me.

"Whoa, easy there." He gripped my upper arm, keeping me steady. Vertigo was steadily sweeping through me, making it hard to stay upright.

"I don't think I can make it much farther," I muttered, more to myself than to him. I felt dizzy, even a little sick, as I had to lean most of my weight against Ryou so I wouldn't fall over. I wasn't exactly sure how far away from my house we were, but through the glow of the lights I recognized some landmarks - even ones covered in snow - that I saw all the time on my way to school. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that if I were able to walk normally it would take about ten or so more minutes to make it home. Given how I felt, I'd bet that it was going to take twice, maybe even three times as long.

A sudden movement from Ryou took me by surprise. Before I could even register what he was doing, I felt the ground slip out from under me. When I'd managed to reorient myself I found that Ryou had managed to lift me onto his back in one swift move. I grappled for a hold, nearly scratching him as I clutched the collar of his coat.

"Easy!" The frown was back, seeming even more prominent as he readjusted me on his back. "You're almost as bad as Ichigo."

I raised a curious eyebrow, but since he couldn't see me I said, "Almost as bad how?"

He cocked his head to the side, his hair brushing my face as he did so. It tickled my cheek. "Well, you're both kind of stubborn, you can be thoughtless sometimes; the list goes on. But one thing I know you share in common with her is that you're both heavier than you look." The last part he muttered, like he didn't want me to hear it. Even so, I reached up and grabbed one of his ears. This seemed to surprise him, practically dropping me as he stumbled slightly off the sidewalk. "Hey!"

"Did you just call me fat?" He didn't say anything, just shifted me back into place on his back. "Hey, you may be my boss, but don't think I won't find ways to get it out of you," I threatened. It sounded weak. If I hadn't been so tired I would have put more force into it, but I just didn't have the strength.

The rest of the walk was spent in silence. I dozed against his back, my cheek resting against his shoulder. His steady walk was soothing, and I kept finding it harder and harder to stay awake long. So I just gave in, curling my arms easily around his neck and burrowing my face in the lining of my coat. With my hat helping to keep the back of my neck warm, I was cocooned in the pleasant heat beneath my coat.

The next thing I knew, we were standing on my street. I pulled myself from my slumber when I felt him stop walking. I could feel him looking around, turning his head as he tried to figure out which way to go. Readjusting myself so I could see over his shoulder, I blinked sleep from my eyes and pointed groggily forward. He followed my direction, and I wasn't sure whether I was hearing things, but it seemed like he was counting under his breath. "It's the one with the small dogwood near the gate," I mumbled.

He started walked again. I settled against his back again, trying to stay as comfortable as long as I could - but then the loud noises started. I was just about to drift off again when I first heard my front door slam open, then the front gate. I jolted back awake when a voice drifted down the street, muffled slightly by Ryou's footsteps. There was the sound of running footsteps growing closer, the voice with it. Before I could react fast enough, I was off Ryou's back, pulled into someone's arms.

"Lily! Lily, are you okay?" _Kish_. He squeezed me, making me wince, before pulling back and holding my face in his hands. He looked over every corner of my face, leaving nothing unchecked. His eyes stopped on the bandage above my left eye, and he frowned. "You're hurt? What happened?" he all but demanded.

Flushing slightly - _so much freaking attention_ - I squirmed under his attentive eyes, tugging at my cheek with my teeth. He pulled lightly on my face so I'd release it. "Um, remember that friend who was caught in the tree because of a dog?" He nodded. "Well, seemed like she had a good reason to be scared of it. The thing was vicious. Managed to get me in the face and my arm." I heard Ryou cough, probably trying to hide his laugh.

Kish finally turned his attention to Ryou, who'd been standing silently behind me the entire time. With him so focused on me, he hadn't noticed Ryou earlier. Now he gave him an almost cold glance, moving his hands from my face to my shoulders. They were regarding each other almost hostilely, and I rushed to explain.

"Ryou happened to come along; he was nearby and heard the commotion the dog was making. He scared it off, managed to get us to the hospital so they could check us out. My friend turned out okay, so they sent her home; I lost some blood and needed stitches for my arm," I hurriedly explained.

I was gripping Kish's coat sleeve, and I was thankful that I had a well enough hold on it, because a wave of dizziness crashed over me. The vertigo from earlier, I realized wearily. I crumpled to the ground as it grew worse. I was beginning to see stars, and when I squeezed them shut I still saw them dancing against my eyelids. _Gotta get inside._

"Lily?" I could hear the worry in Kish's voice as he dropped to his knees in front of me. His hand brushed my bandaged arm, and I winced visibly when I felt his touch against my stitches through my coat.

"I'm just really . . . really tired." Understatement of the century. All the energy in my body seemed to sap away, leaving me bone-tired and sore. I could feel the bruises all over my body, and I just really wanted to lay down in my bed. Very soon.

"Do I need to carry you?"

I grimaced; even that took a lot of energy. "No, I should be able to -" As I tried to stand again, my knees buckled and I fell backward toward Ryou. "Or not," I mumbled. "Sorry, Ryou."

He set me to my feet again, quickly taking his hands from my elbows, almost as if I had shocked him. This hurt my feelings slightly, I wasn't entirely sure why though. I kept this to myself, making sure my face stayed impassive as I said, "Help me inside, Kish?"

Nodding, he quickly picked me up from the ground. My feet swung into the air as he held me bridal style, seemingly without any effort. _Whoa._ He was still giving Ryou a dirty look, but it softened when he looked down at me.

"Don't come in to work tomorrow, you look like you could sleep for a week." I looked around Kish's arm to see Ryou walking away. His hair glowed under the street light as he passed under it.

"Ryou!" I managed to call. I twisted my body so I wasn't looking at him upside down. Kish almost dropped me as I squirmed. "Thank you."

He'd stopped when I'd called his name, glancing over his shoulder at us. Hearing my thank you, he smirked at me, turning back and walking away again. I saw him raise his hand as he continued down the road, waving it in acknowledgment.

Breathing out whatever was in my lungs, I turned back in Kish's arms. I buried my face in the lining of his coat as he started toward the house. He was silent as he walked, and I was grateful for it. I was so tired I wasn't sure if I would have been able to keep a conversation going.

Inside, he laid me easily on the couch. I curled into a ball, the realization that I could finally just lay down and _rest_ nearly making me pass out right there. He tugged on the quilt that was folded across the back of the couch, draping it over me. I snuggled beneath it, pressing my face against the hand-stitched fabric. Vaguely, in the back of my mind, I remembered that this was my favorite throw when I was a child.

There was the sound of shuffling feet as my mom walked into the living room. I could hear her talking in hushed tones to Kish. Probably asking why I was about to pass out on the couch. I didn't really care much at the moment, but I knew she was going to want to talk to me about why I'd run out and why it had taken me so long to come home. So I dragged myself from the comfort of the couch, preparing for the longest lecture of my life.

.

.

.

Later, when I was finally able to lay in my bed, curled once more under the quilt from the couch, I rubbed at my ear. My mom had held it pinched between her fingers as she yelled at me. She'd wanted to know - nay, _demanded_ - why I'd been out after dark without calling her, what I'd been doing, and why I'd come home injured. It was hard explaining a couple of them. I gave her the friend-stuck-in-a-tree excuse, and how Ryou had helped us to the hospital after scaring the dog off. Not sure if she bought it, but she let me go, after what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes; I managed to drag myself up the stairs to my room and collapse on my bed.

Kish sat on the floor next to my bed. He was letting me play with his hair as he flipped through one of my books. A cold air blew softly into my room, ruffling his hair slightly as it circled around us. I watched with mild interest as it moved between my fingers with the breeze. The wind itself felt good against my face, and I closed my eyes to savor it. It helped ease the slight nausea I felt now and then. Once it was gone, I knew the feeling would come back full force.

I readjusted my place on my mattress, and when I tried to pull my hand from his hair to tug the blanket further over my shoulders, my fingers got caught in the shaggy strands. "Shoot," I mumbled. I tried to disentangle them as easily as I could, but I'd accidentally knotted them pretty good. "Sorry, Kish."

He just laughed it off though, chuckling slightly as he held my hand in one of his as he ran the other through his hair calmly. It parted easily with his fingers, releasing my own from its grip. "There." He squeezed my hand slightly, about to go back to the book.

I gripped his hand, threading my fingers through his to keep ahold of it. When he looked up at me, a quizzical look marring his face, I smiled. If I'd been more awake, I would have noticed the slight flush across his cheeks. But with how groggy I was feeling at the moment, there wasn't much that I was paying attention to now, only his hand in mine. I'm pretty sure, before I drifted, that I felt him squeeze my hand again, pressing it against his cheek. But I was already unconscious, gone from reality for who knew how long.

Cold sun light filtered through my window the next morning, shining across my bed as I tried to sit up. I still felt slightly out of it, but at least the nausea and the dizziness were gone.

_Nope_, I thought as I laid back down. I buried my face in my pillow, groaning slightly. A chill ran over me, and I was slow to realize that I'd left my window open throughout the night. _Wonder why Kish didn't close it before he left?_ I wondered as I reached to close it. My arms felt as heavy as lead, flopping back to the mattress once the window was shut. A soft layer of snow covered the pillow, surrounding the space where my head had lain only moments ago. _Must have snowed during the night_, I mused idly as I tried to sit up again, slower this time. It went better than my first try.

I managed to make it across my room to my door, pushing it almost shut so I could look at my reflection in the mirror hanging on the back. I grimaced when I saw how disheveled I looked, my hair parted unevenly across my scalp. My face was pale, dark circles beneath my eyes. All the sleep I had gotten hadn't helped how I felt either. The nausea and dizziness were gone for now, but I had no doubt they would be back once I tried to make it downstairs. I sighed, glad Ryou had given me the day off.

Taking it easy as I made it down the stairs, I tried to pull my hair back into a low ponytail to keep it from falling in my face. It refused to cooperate though, so I just twisted the mess into a bun to fix later. Downstairs I found Mom cooking in the kitchen, the sounds of breakfast floating through into the living room. I managed to make it to the dining room table, collapsing into a chair. I laid my head on its cool surface, breathing in the smell of the cleaner Mom used. _Mm, citrus._

Mom's footsteps pattered softly across the floor as she made her way to where I was sitting. The smell of breakfast followed her, replacing the cleaner's scent as I lifted my head to breathe it in. I took a deep breath, letting the smell of rice and miso fill my lungs.

"Here." She set the tray she was carrying on the table in front of me. Laden with food, I almost didn't wait until she sat down beside me with her mug of tea. I said thanks, my stomach grumbled as I broke my chopsticks, complaining that it was empty. Mom took a few sips as I dug in, coming close to dropping my chopsticks more than once because I was eating too fast. I hadn't known how hungry I was until I'd seen breakfast. Her eyes on me the entire time, Mom smiled as I wolfed down my natto and rice, continuing to stuff my face without a care. I tried to use my manners a majority of the times, but when I was as hungry as I was then, I didn't have a care in the world. Mom had trained me to not pig out in public, but after I pretty much refused to listen to her when it came to eating at home, she'd given up and allowed me to eat however I wanted in private. Unless we had company, of course. I knew better than that.

"That," I said as I placed my chopsticks down, "was the best breakfast I've had in a long time." I leaned back in my chair, patting my stomach in appreciation of my mom's cooking. I knew it was slovenly of me, but for the moment I want to pretend that I was a kid again, able to just lay back and bask in the feeling that was my full stomach.

My mother laughed softly, setting down her tea to pick up the tray to take to the kitchen. As she walked away I grabbed her mug. She never drank the same tea at breakfast everyday, and I was curious as to what she'd picked this morning. From the looks of it I figured it was green tea. This was confirmed when I took a sip, letting the slightly bitter taste wash over me. I shuddered slightly, but not in disgust. It took something like this to wake me up in the morning, something better than coffee.

"Lily, are you drinking my tea again?" Mom had come out of the kitchen, wiping her hands off on her pants.

I looked up with a grin. "No, I just wanted to see what type it was this time. Green tea?"

Her expression mirrored mine. "Better than coffee."

"Agreed." I took one more sip before I handed her the mug. Pushing away from the table I stood, using my foot to kick the chair back beneath it. Thanking Mom and almost running back up the stairs, I changed out of my clothes in record time. I was going to make the most of this day off, especially with what I'd had to do to earn it. I ignored how I wobbled slightly across my floor as I pulled a shirt over my head. Shaking my hair out from under the collar, I began to search for my phone to call Kish. The last time he'd seen me, I'd been in pretty rough shape, but now I felt better than ever. "Phone, phone," I muttered as I sifted through a pile of clothes at the end of my bed.

A beeping sounded at the head of my bed. I popped my head over the edge of my mattress, exploring the cover of my comforter with my eyes. Waiting for the beeping again I slowly stood, edging my way toward the head of my bed beneath the window.

_Beep!_

Making a dive for my covers, I burrowed underneath them. The beeping had sounded somewhere near where my mattress met the wall so I started there. Sticking my hand almost to the floor, my fingertips touched the floor but found nothing. Sweeping over almost everywhere, I peeked from beneath the comforter to glance toward my pillow.

_Beep!_

_Seriously?_ I grimaced as I reached forward, digging beneath my pillow. My phone beeped again when I pulled it from under the pillow. Glancing at the screen, I saw that it was Ichigo. Why was she calling me again, especially on a Sunday? "Ichigo?"

"_Lily, Ryou told me that he'd given you the day off, but this is something important - Hey! Quit it, Mint!_"

"What happened?" I pressed the earpiece even closer to my ear, if that was possible. There was the sound of a small scuffle, then Mint came on the line.

"_Lily?_"

"Mint, what the heck happened?" I demanded as I climbed off my bed. I stood ramrod straight as I listened.

"_A girl made it into the café before we opened. We've had to lock the doors and put out the closed sign so nobody can come in._" There was the voice of Ichigo in the background, demanding for her phone back.

"_Mint._ The point, please."

"_She was injected with animal DNA._"

_What?_ "So she's . . ."

"_She's a Mew Mew. There's seven of us now. Ichigo called you to ask if you could come down here and help with damage control._"

Pushing a hand through my hair, I immediately began to pull on a pair of shoes that would make it through the snow outside. "I'm on my way." Closing the phone and shoving it into my pocket I sat down to pull on some socks and boots. The only pair I owned were shoved somewhere beneath my bed, probably because I'd kicked them there after last night, but I managed to retrieve them and tug them on. Making sure I didn't fall on my face as I crossed the room, I grabbed my heaviest jacket and my hat and scarf. I let Mom know that I'd be back in a while as I headed out the door, wrapping my scarf around my neck and face against the cold wind outside. It wasn't as bad as yesterday, but I still didn't trust the weather. The gate was almost frozen shut, so I kicked it until the lock dislodged. Ice blew away in the wind as I pulled it open and made my way down the street that would take me to Cafe Mew Mew.

* * *

**A/N**: Dun dun dunnn! Haha, cliff hangers. I hate reading them but they still come in handy xD I'm pretty sure it's obvious what's going on, but either way I'm not telling :3 Let me know what y'all think, please.


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